Brotherly Love
by clp66
Summary: House and Susan help each other deal with relationship complications.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** _This is the sixth story in the Susan Chronicles story. The timing of this story occurs in the weeks just before "The Fix" of season seven. In this story House and Susan help each other deal with the complications associated with their respective relationships. I hope you enjoy the story and feel free to tell me what you think, good or bad._

**CHAPTER ONE**

It was still dark outside as Susan lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She hadn't slept well for several weeks; not since Dr. Cuddy had broken up with Greg. It wasn't the break-up itself that was bothering Susan. Relationships were complicated and a relationship with a man as complicated as her brother was destined to be even more difficult. She understood why Cuddy had called it off, though she felt that Cuddy was expecting more out of Greg than he was capable of offering – despite her insistence that she didn't want him to change. Given the way Greg was reacting to the breakup she wished Cuddy had just stayed with that other guy she was dating before Greg, whatever his name was. Susan was tied up in knots worrying about Greg. She knew she shouldn't, but it was in her nature to worry about those she cared about. She wasn't eating like she was supposed to; she couldn't because her worrying made her stomach hurt. He'd gotten married one week after the break-up; supposedly to help the lady get her green card, though why that would matter to him was beyond Susan's comprehension. While he had invited the rest of his team and even had Chase perform the ceremony, Susan hadn't been invited – not that she would have gone anyway. She didn't confront Greg about the wedding as she was trying to give Greg his space as he worked through the emotional pain, but he obviously knew she wouldn't approve or he would have invited her. To date, Susan had never even met Dominique or whatever her name was. Then right after the wedding Greg had disappeared for a few days and when he came back, Thirteen came with him. That was quite a surprise, but a pleasant one. Susan wondered where Thirteen had gone, but if Susan knew anything about Thirteen, she knew her to be a very private person so Susan hadn't pressed her. Greg might have been able to fool the rest of his team with that rehab excuse, but Susan knew her brother well enough that this was a ruse to throw the rest of the team off the scent. As all these thoughts ran through Susan's mind, she was startled by her alarm clock; 5:30am. She reached over to turn off the alarm and sat up for a few moments before getting out of bed and then headed over to the bathroom.

Susan turned on the water to the shower to let the water warm up while she disrobed. Out of habit, she stepped on the scale. _Well at least not being able to eat has had one positive effect_, she thought to herself. All the weight she had gained over the winter was gone and she was back to her normal 118 pounds. She looked at herself in the mirror; time and gravity were beginning to take their toll on her body. Certainly she wasn't as 'perky' as she had been 20 years ago, but then she didn't guess she looked all that bad considering all she'd been through in her life. She had her share of scars as she looked over her body. The oldest one on her lower abdomen was from the C-section she'd had when Laura was born and there were plenty of stretch marks along her breasts that appeared while she was nursing her daughter. Somehow she had managed to escape stretch marks along her stomach and thighs from the pregnancy itself. Then there were three small scars from when she had her gallbladder laparoscopically removed ten years ago. Her most recent and most prominent scar was from the removal of half her liver that she had donated to Greg about a year ago, though it was fading from red to white. So many changes in her life in the last three years and the last year had certainly been full. It was interesting, she thought, that many of the most intensive and interesting moments of her life had nearly all occurred in the past year since she had met her brother. He had changed her a lot in the past year, for the better as far as she was concerned. She worried about him so much and she was hurt that he was avoiding her when she wanted to help him through his pain. Susan let out a sigh, _it's in his control_, she said to herself as she stepped in the shower; _he'll come to me when he's ready_.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

"I don't think I've seen you in here not writing lecture notes in quite a while," Wilson said as he sat down at the cafeteria table across from Susan.

"Spring Break," Susan explained.

"Ah," Wilson said with a nod. "How's the class coming?"

"It's fine, we're nearly caught up to where the students should be in the semester," Susan answered as she picked at her meal.

Wilson watched her as she moved the food on her plate around with her fork, "He's going to be OK," he said. "You're not doing him any good by not eating and worrying yourself sick."

"He's not real worried about what I'm doing or not doing," Susan said. "If he was, he wouldn't be avoiding me. He's doing everything he can to keep me away. I no longer participate in differentials. The team either brings me the specimens that they need run or they call me to collect them myself; he makes sure he comes in to work after I've gone to class or am down in the main lab, and he leaves before I can get away. He's always gone at lunchtime; he didn't invite me to his wedding…."

"You wouldn't have wanted to be there," Wilson interrupted, "it was a debacle and the only purpose was to get back at Cuddy for all the good it did either one of them," Wilson paused. "I don't think he's even sleeping with her," he added for no particular reason. "_And_," he continued, "You know him well enough to know that he is well aware of what you are doing or not doing. Just because you don't see him, doesn't mean he's out of contact. He is House and that hasn't changed despite what he's going through."

"He won't talk to me," Susan said, "and I know I can help him through this."

"Just give him time," he said as he looked at her plate. "You going to eat that or am I going to have to feed you?"

Susan jabbed a piece of pasta from her plate with her fork and brought it to her mouth and started chewing. She forced herself to swallow, "That better?" she asked.

Wilson smiled at her, "Yes, but I'm going to sit here and watch you eat until you finish your plate."

"You're worse than a mother hen," Susan said with a smirk on her face.

"That's what House says too," Wilson said.

"Great minds think alike," was the reply.

Wilson chuckled and leaned back in the chair. As he did so, he glanced toward the doorway and saw House standing there. House gave him a slight nod and then left the cafeteria.

MDMDMD

"You can't keep avoiding her," Wilson said from the chair across from House's desk. "She needs to know you're OK."

"I don't want to lie to her," House said.

"You lie to everybody," Wilson countered.

"Not to Susan," he paused. "I can't lie to her," he replied as he looked at the floor tapping his cane.

"Just talk to her," Wilson said.

House looked up but didn't reply as he stared defiantly right into Wilson's eyes.

Wilson was unfazed, "Talk. To. Her." He emphasized each word and got up to go back to his own office. "Besides," he said over his shoulder as he opened the door, "she's right. She can probably help you through this."

MDMDMDMD

Susan was standing in Wilson's office when he walked in, "I'd like a couple days off," she said as he entered.

"OK," Wilson said. "Have you cleared it with House?"

"Hard to clear something with someone when they are avoiding you, besides technically you're my boss, remember?" Susan reminded him.

"True. Well, he doesn't have a patient right now," Wilson mused. "I guess it'd be alright. Are you planning on going anywhere?"

"Its spring break and Laura will be coming home for a few days. I thought I'd take a couple of days off for mother-daughter time; but no, I'm not planning on leaving town unless I take her to New York City. There is this play on Broadway that just opened that I'd like to see," Susan said.

"I didn't think you were much of a Broadway fan," Wilson said.

"Generally no, but one of the actors in the play stars in my favorite television show, so I thought it would be fun to see him do a live performance," Susan said. "Oh, and I'm leaving early this afternoon, I have practice tonight and I'm done with everything here today."

"Practice?" Wilson asked.

"Softball," Susan said.

Wilson nodded and Susan left his office and headed down to the lab to get her things. She had several things she needed to do before practice. First and foremost she needed a pair of sunglasses. Her newly vision corrected eyes were sensitive to the sunlight, so she needed to protect them with a good pair of sunglasses. She also wanted to go to the batting cages to shag a few balls before practice. She wanted to make sure she could still hit the ball and she hadn't tested out her new vision in the batting cage. She didn't want to look like a complete idiot to the rest of the team.

David walked in the lab just as she was getting ready to head out, "Leaving early?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm done here and want to try to hit a few balls at the batting cages before practice tonight. By the way, thanks again for taking me to and from the eye surgery center last week," Susan said. "It still feels weird not having to reach for my glasses every morning, but it's awesome to be able to see clearly without them."

"It was my pleasure," David said. "I was glad to help. So, how's your brother doing by the way?"

"Well, he's at work, but I don't really see him too much," she replied. "He's too busy chasing chickens or whatever to be bothered visiting his sister."

"Do I detect a little bitterness?" David asked.

"A little," Susan admitted. "Listen, I'm going to take a couple of days off to spend with my daughter while she's in town over spring break. So in case you were to come looking for me, that's why I'm not here. I'll be back on Thursday."

"Enjoy your time with Laura. I'm taking Phillip camping, so I won't be here either," he said. David hesitated, "Umm, are we still on for Friday evening?"

"Any reason we shouldn't be?" Susan asked as she opened her desk drawer and removed her purse.

"No," he answered quickly. "I just wanted to make sure."

Susan smiled at him; "I'll see you Friday then. 7:00?"

David smiled, "7."

David and Laura walked out of the lab together and headed toward the elevator. They stood silently as the elevator made its way up to the main floor. Just before the door opened, David leaned over and kissed Susan on the cheek, "Have fun tonight," he said as the door opened and he walked out and turned to the left to go down the hall. "See you later."

Susan turned to the right and headed out the door of the hospital.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan put her token in the machine and stepped into the batters box. The light on the pitching machine turned green and pitched the ball. SWING and then the ball went by. _Dumb butt_, she told herself, _SLOW pitch – wait on it_. After about five pitches Susan started connecting with the ball. She still needed to wait on it a little longer, the balls were all headed over to left field area but at least she was hitting it. Susan concentrated and it wasn't long before she was placing it wherever she wanted in the cage complex.

"I hope you're not imagining that's my head you're smacking around," House said as he watched her from behind the cage door.

"No, but that wouldn't be a bad idea," Susan replied as she swung and hit the last pitch sending the ball over to the right side of the cage complex. The light on the machine turned red and then shut down. Susan exited the cage and took off her batting helmet. "How'd you know I was here?" Susan asked.

"As much as you worry about what people will think, it was pretty obvious you would come here before actually heading over to practice," House said. "You'd want to make sure you could actually hit the ball before showing off your skills to your team mates."

"I'm a girl and I'm small. I'm going to have to prove myself. I guess Wilson told you I had practice tonight." Susan said walking toward her jeep. House walked beside her. When they got to her car, she opened the back and put her bat and her helmet inside and took off her right batting glove. She grabbed her fielding glove and another brand new one that had been treated with glove softener and was bound around a ball with a thick rubber band. She removed the rubber band and took out the ball. She handed the glove over to House and said, "Come on."

House looked at the glove and started to slip his left hand inside when he noticed writing on the inside edge of the glove, "DR. GREGORY HOUSE". He smirked and followed her to a nearby backstop. House hooked his cane on the chain link fence and stood in front of the fence. Susan stopped about 20 feet in front of him and turned around. She tossed the ball underhanded to him a couple of times and then tossed it over handed a few times and then stepped backwards a couple of steps as she continued to throw him the ball. With each step backwards Susan's throws became a little harder. When she got about 80 feet away she quit stepping backwards and threw a few more. After about 5 minutes of catch, she hollered, "Give me some grounders!" House threw her some grounders in several directions. She ran in front of the ball and came up throwing, hard. She stung his hand a couple of times when he missed the pocket of his glove. House decided to change things up a bit and threw her some high balls to catch – some to the side, others over her head and behind. She missed a couple, but always had it by the time it bounced up from the ground. House was impressed by her throwing accuracy, he had to shift very little to catch her throws, but his leg was starting to tire from the extra activity and the pressure he put on his thigh when he threw the ball. Fortunately, Susan decided she'd had enough and walked back to where he was. He grabbed his cane and they walked back to her car.

"You want to keep your glove or put it back in here?" she asked.

House handed her the glove. "Chances of me playing catch with anybody else are pretty slim," he said.

Susan put the ball back in and wrapped the rubber bands back around the glove to continue the break in process. "I'll put more glove conditioner on it when I get home. Shouldn't be too long before it's completely broke in," Susan said as she shut the back. She turned around and leaned against her jeep and looked up at House. "You've been rather absent lately," she said. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine," he said.

"You want to talk?" she asked.

"Nope," he answered.

"Okay. Well I need to go to practice. You're welcome to tag along if you like," she offered.

"Nah, I've got other things," he said.

Susan nodded, "Don't drink too much."

House nodded and walked over to his bike. Susan watched him leave and then got in her jeep to head over to practice.

MDMDMDMDMD

House sat at the bar with his bourbon in front of him. He stared without really looking toward the television over the bar showing a Yankees game. He was lost and alone. He'd been so happy with Cuddy and then he had to screw it up. He knew it wasn't going to last from the day they got together; it was just a matter of when. He tried so hard, it seemed he was destined to be miserable and alone for the rest of his life. That's why he didn't care if he married Dominique. It was a business arrangement and nothing more. He had no feelings for her what-so-ever and in fact had never even slept with her. She had her boyfriend and her life and as soon as she got her green card, they'd divorce and she'd be on her way. His only regret with his behavior since Cuddy left him was how it had affected Susan. She'd seen him jump from the balcony; he didn't know she was there, though the state he was in it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Regardless of what he would or wouldn't have done, it had affected her profoundly. She hadn't been in his life long, but she had fully accepted him into her life and as his sister she was trying to take some of his pain into herself. He couldn't allow that to continue. He was used to being miserable and alone, but he couldn't allow Susan into his misery. Misery may love company, but the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.

MDMDMDMDMD

Practice was over and Susan was in the dugout gathering her things when the coach came over to speak to her, "You've played ball a long time."

"A few years," Susan acknowledged.

"You don't develop those kinds of skills in just a few years," he replied.

Susan gave a half grin, "I grew up playing ball and then when my daughter was old enough, I was one of her coaches. So yes, I have a few years' experience. This is my first co-ed team though," she said.

"Co-ed requires one female in either the pitcher or catcher position. I'd like to put you at catcher if that is okay," he said as he handed her the game schedule and a uniform shirt.

"That's fine," she replied looking over the schedule. "You'll need to have a back-up for me who can step in from time to time. I work at PPTH and my boss gets the most difficult cases. Sometimes it requires that I keep odd hours at the hospital."

"When that happens, we'll put Jackie there. She doesn't really know how to play the position, but she can get the ball back to the pitcher. Hopefully that won't happen a lot. You'll need black softball pants or shorts to go with the shirt," he added before walking away. Susan finished gathering her things and headed to her jeep thinking that she'd opt for black softball pants since she was playing catcher and would spend so much time down in the dirt.

Greg was never far from her thoughts and tonight was no different as she drove to her apartment: finally getting to be with him after so many weeks felt good even if they hadn't actually said much to each other. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, "Hey, are you hungry?" Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting at a local pizzeria looking over a menu. House walked up and sat down across from her at the table. They were silent for a while after the waiter took their order and brought their drinks. Finally Susan broke the silence, "Laura's coming home for a few days this week."

"Doing anything?" he asked.

"Not really, might take her to see a play," Susan replied.

Silence again and the pizza arrived. House started eating his pizza, while Susan just sat there. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked.

"I thought I was," Susan said as she picked the pieces of green pepper off of her pizza and piled them on her plate. She picked up her slice and took a bite, then put it down in disgust. "But I guess I'm not anymore."

"Susan, you've got to quick worrying about me. I'm going to be fine, I just have to work through it," he said.

"I hate…," Susan started.

"Don't," House interrupted. "She was right."

"No, she wasn't," she replied vehemently. "She was unfair and who cares if you slipped one time? It was understandable and now….," Susan stopped and took a deep breath. She went silent while she regained her composure. "I'm sorry; I wasn't going to go there."

"I'd rather you speak what's on your mind than skirt around with small talk. You know that," House said.

Susan nodded and took a deep breath as she folded a napkin into a paper football to keep her hands occupied, "I just want to help you through this and you've shut me out."

"Because right now you can't help me," House said. "I know you're there and that's enough for now."

Susan nodded, "OK," she said finally and then flicked the football toward House hitting him on the nose. She smiled as he juggled to catch the football as it bounced off his face while she bit into a slice of pizza. It wasn't long before the football was returned landing in the middle of her slice. She picked the now greasy football off her pizza and dropped it on the table, "Eww," she said laughing. They settled into easy conversation for the rest of dinner while occasionally stealing various pizza toppings off each other's slices, tossing them back and forth or otherwise tormenting each other. Finally, much to the wait staff's pleasure, they were finished with dinner and made their way out of the restaurant. They walked toward their cars and when they reached Susan's she turned to look at him, "Don't be such a stranger, OK?" House looked into her eyes and nodded before he walked to his car.

Susan drove home feeling better and hoped that Greg was too. She knew he was still hurting and would for some time, but she also knew that eventually he would work through it. For now it seemed that only having her near was enough for her brother.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Susan heard a key in the lock; she opened her eyes and glanced over at the clock: 6 am. She got up and went into the living room just as Laura walked in carrying a laundry bag and her back pack. "Hi mom, I didn't mean to wake you," she said as she dropped her things and went over to give her mother a hug.

"I wasn't asleep," Susan said returning the hug. "I was expecting you." Susan went over to grab Laura's laundry bag and took it over to her utility area where the washer and dryer were located. She opened the bag and started sorting laundry. "Are you hungry? Would you like to go out for breakfast?" she asked.

"Honestly, I'd really like to have some of your pancakes if that's OK. I really miss your cooking," Laura told her.

Susan smiled, "I just happen to have everything I need to make your favorite blue berry pancakes."

Susan put the first load in the washer and turned it on, then went back into her bedroom to get dressed for the day while Laura went into her bedroom to put her things away, then headed to the kitchen. Laura followed her in and sat down on one of the bar stools while Susan got out the ingredients she needed to make the pancakes. "So, what would you like to do while you are home?" Susan asked. "I've taken a couple of days off and won't have to be back at work until Thursday." Laura didn't really care what they did so Susan asked her if she'd like to go to New York and see a play. They agreed for Wednesday because Laura just wanted to lounge around today.

It wasn't long before the pancakes were ready and just as Laura and Susan were sitting down at the table to eat, the doorbell rang. Susan went to answer the door and when she opened it, she found Dr. Cuddy standing at her door with Rachel. After overcoming the initial shock of seeing her at the door Susan said, "You're just about the last person I expected to see at my door."

"I know and I'm sorry, but I need some help," Cuddy said. "Marina is sick and I have a board meeting that I have to attend this morning and I knew you were off today and I was wondering if you could watch Rachel. I know it's an imposition especially considering…"

"I'll watch her," Susan said interrupting her rambling. "What time will you be by to pick her up?" she asked taking Rachel's bag and her hand and leading her in the door.

"About 7:00," Cuddy said.

"OK, we'll see you then," Susan said turning her back and closing the door as Cuddy scurried away to work. "Rachel, Laura is here and is eating pancakes. Do you want some pancakes?"

"Pan-takes," Rachel repeated nodding her head as she ran over to Laura.

Susan went back into the kitchen to make up a few more pancakes and then sat down at the table making sure that Rachel was settled.

"Why did that seem awkward?" Laura finally asked after Susan sat down.

"She and Greg have severed ties," Susan said speaking above Rachel's understanding and glancing over her direction. "I'll tell you later."

Laura nodded and finished her breakfast. After breakfast was over, Laura picked up the dishes and headed over to the sink, "Come on Rachel, let's clean up."

Rachel followed her to the kitchen carrying her own plate and fork, dripping syrup on the floor on her way. She held her plate straight up toward Laura dropping her fork on the floor and spilling what was left of the syrup on her plate in her hair.

Susan chuckled, "How about we leave Laura to do the dishes and get you cleaned up?" as she grabbed Rachel's hand and headed toward the bathroom to wash the syrup out of her hair and off her face.

Susan had finished washing Rachel's hair and cleaning her up when a distinctive knock came at the door. Laura answered the door just as Susan and Rachel entered the front room. As soon as Rachel saw House, she ran toward him, "House!" and grabbed his leg in as tight a hug as she was able.

"Hey kiddo," he said expertly picking her up and carrying her in his left arm while wielding the cane in his right, walked into the front room and sat down on the couch.

"What brings you here so early in the morning?" Susan asked.

"Smelled the pancakes," House replied with Rachel still sitting on his lap. Rachel put her hands on each side of his cheeks and screwed up her face as she looked at him then laid her head on his shoulder, "How come you don't come play no more?" she asked.

"I can't right now," he said. "Maybe someday."

"You didn't answer my question," Susan said.

"Marina was not feeling well and I figured Cuddy would ask you to step in and help with Rachel," House said.

"How did you know….Never mind, I don't want to know," Susan said.

House looked straight at Susan, "I wanted to spend some time with the Rugrat, is that such a bad thing?"

Susan shook her head, "Well, Cuddy will be here at 7:00 tonight so you have until then. I don't think I want to know what you did."

"Nothing dangerous," House assured Susan. "She's just really groggy today. She'll sleep well today and tomorrow morning she will wake up nice and fully refreshed." House pulled Rachel off his shoulder, "Hey look what I brought," he said as he pulled a DVD out of his pocket.

"Brown Beard!" Rachel said then lowered her voice as low as she could get it, "You bloody scallywag."

House gave her half a grin and handed the disk to Laura who put it in the DVD player and handed the remote to House. Susan left the group to trade laundry and start housecleaning. She smiled to herself as she heard the three in the front room laugh at the antics of the pirates. Susan was proud of Greg for bonding with Rachel. She knew that he was as hurt by not getting to spend time with her as he was by the breakup.

"Does Cuddy know that you watch this cartoon with Rachel?" Susan asked as she walked back into the room.

"Nope," House said. "I'm a night owl and it seems that Rachel is too. She would get up at night and sit with me while I watched television. This became a bit of a ritual for us. When it was over, I'd put her back in bed."

"I can imagine that she wouldn't approve of this cartoon," Susan said as she watched the pirates push a prisoner off the plank into the jaws of hungry crocodiles much to Rachel's delight.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," House said in reply as he looked at Susan.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything, but children are likely to blurt out anything, so don't be surprised if Rachel ends up telling her herself," Susan explained.

"Don't care," said House as he turned back toward the television.

Knowing Rachel was in good hands, Susan busied herself with her housework and finishing up the laundry. She was folding clothes in her bedroom when the show ended and House came in and stood at the edge of the bed. "Rachel?" Susan asked.

"Laura's with her," he replied. "I'm going to go now."

"You sure? It'll be time for lunch soon," Susan said.

"I need to get to work. It's almost time for Wilson to buy me lunch," House explained.

Susan smiled, "While I don't agree with you drugging Marina, this was a good thing you did for Rachel. You'd make a great dad you know."

"Not much chance of that happening at this point," House said. "I don't want kids anyway." House left the room and said good-bye to Rachel. He looked at Laura and nodded. Laura smiled back, "It's nice to see you Uncle Greg. I'll be here until Sunday if you'd like to come over and jam or something. I'm learning a new blues piece that I'd like you to hear if you want."

House nodded, "Sure," and then left.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Susan made the girls sandwiches and put Rachel down for a nap. While she was napping, Susan explained the situation to Laura. Understandably Laura was shocked by the whole scenario, "He's married?"

"Umm hmm, but it's purely a marriage of convenience. She's his housekeeper and she wants a green card so she can work in the US after her work visa expires. So, she eventually gets a green card and he gets free housekeeping in return."

"And 'other services' as well I suppose," Laura said.

"Well, that's none of our business, but I don't think it's that kind of relationship. She has a boyfriend," Susan explained.

Laura's eyes opened wide, "Really."

"Yeah, really," Susan replied.

"Amazing," Laura paused. "How have you been dealing with this mom?"

"At first not well," Susan admitted, "but I'm OK now. When I saw him jump off the balcony I completely lost it; ended up throwing up in the parking lot. Mostly I just wish I could help him get through it, but he insists that he has to do it alone."

"Well, he's right about that mom," Laura said. "Your job is just to be there when he needs you, like today. He knew you wouldn't turn Rachel away just because you're at odds with her mother. He needed to say good-bye to Rachel in his own way and he counted on you to make that happen for him."

Susan nodded and smiled at Laura, "How'd you get to be so smart?"

"It's genetic," Laura said with a grin as she got up and headed over to the piano. "How about some Chopin?"


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Early the next morning Susan's cell phone rang, "We have a patient," the voice said and then hung up.

"Well, so much for taking Laura to New York," Susan said to herself as she pulled herself out of bed to get ready for work. Just as she was ready to leave, she went to Laura's door and knocked, "Laura sweetheart?"

"Yeah?" the voice came through the door.

Susan opened the door and looked at her daughter who was still half asleep, "I have to go into work; we have a patient."

"No problem mom, I'll call you later," she said and then rolled over to go back to sleep.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

In the center of the conference room table was a plate of bagels and with two containers of cream cheese flanking each side. Evenly distributed around the table were six place settings that included a patient file as a placemat topped by a paper plate, napkins and plastic knives. Glasses of orange juice and mugs of coffee sat at the head of each place setting except for the setting at the end closest to the door which was missing the cup of coffee. The team members filed in one by one and sat around the table in their typical places along the long sides of the table. House came in from his office and sat at the head of the table as the fellows started perusing the patient file. "Type II diabetic; that could indicate…." House held his hand up to silence Foreman, "Not all of our team is present; we'll wait."

Chase started to reach for a bagel but was stopped by a slap on the hand, "Didn't hear me?" House asked. Chase put his hand back and the team sat in silence staring at each other across the table occasionally stealing inquisitive glances in House's direction. Finally the door opened and Susan walked in. She stopped when she saw the team all staring at her, "What?" she asked suddenly self-conscious.

"Sit," House said as he gestured to the seat at the end of the table. Susan sat. "You were saying?" House asked as he looked at Foreman. As Foreman started speaking Chase tentatively extended his hand out to grab a bagel. Upon not getting any reaction from House, he hastily spread cream cheese on his bagel. Following Chase, the rest of the team, except Susan reached for a bagel. "Not hungry?" The question was directed at Susan across the table.

"Too short," Susan said. Wordlessly, Thirteen scooted the plate over toward Susan so she could reach a bagel, which she promptly did.

"Anyway, the patient is diabetic, could be related to poor circulation," Foreman continued.

"A stroke seems more likely," offered Taub.

"Which could be caused by poor circulation," Foreman countered.

"Along with blockages and any number of things; get a CT scan and check out the nursing home," House said. "Susan, get some fresh chemistries," he added as he got up from the table grabbing a bagel on his way to his office.

Susan followed the team out of the office and headed down to the lab to get her phlebotomy tray. It felt good to be back with the team again even if it did mean she lost the day with her daughter. Maybe they'd make it to New York on Saturday.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

The patient lay back in his bed staring absently at the ceiling. Susan greeted him and explained that she was going to take some blood for more tests. When he didn't answer, Susan walked up to the patient and went to the arm opposite of the IV line. She put her hand on the patient, "Mr. Crawford?" Still no answer. Susan looked at the monitor; everything looked normal. Blood pressure was normal, heart rate was good, and respiration was fine. She glanced over at the pulse oximeter; oxygen saturation levels were fine. "Mr. Crawford, I'm going to pull some blood from your arm now," she said not knowing if he heard her or not. After she drew the blood and bandaged his arm, she pulled out her phone and waited for the answer, "I think your patient is catatonic," she said. She listened and then answered, "He's staring at the ceiling and is non-responsive. He didn't even flinch when I pulled his blood." Susan hung up her phone, "Mr. Crawford, somebody will be in here shortly to check on you." As she started to walk out Chase passed her as he was walking in with the phone up to his ear. She could hear House yelling at him for missing such an obvious symptom. Chase started to argue back, but House hung up on him before he made much of an argument. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble," she said.

Chase went to the patient to examine him, "Don't worry about it. He's pretty edgy right now anyway; if it wasn't this it would be something else. I haven't been in here yet to see the patient since we did the differential; I was getting the CT set up. Foreman and Thirteen are at the nursing home."

"Where's Taub?" Susan asked.

"I'm not sure; he got a phone call and disappeared right after the differential," Chase said. Susan nodded and headed out of the room to go to the lab. She hadn't had a chance to do any QC before the morning's meeting and needed to get that running before she could analyze the specimen.

Susan was working on her daily maintenance on the instruments when Wilson walked in with Laura following close behind. "I thought you were taking today off too," he said.

"Patient came in," Susan explained.

"Thanks for bringing me down Dr. Wilson," Laura said.

"It's James and it was my pleasure," he said before he walked out the door.

"I thought we could have lunch together," Laura said explaining her presence.

"Sure, as soon as I finish running the QC on the instrument and get the specimen running we can go," Susan said. She turned back to the instrument to clean the reagent probe when an elderly couple came into the lab. Susan didn't hear the couple walk in since her head was buried in the instrument, but she heard Laura ask them if they needed some help. Susan pulled her head out of the instrument and turned around. "Are you lost?" Susan asked.

"Well, we're supposed to come to room 29B and find Susan to have some blood work done. Here's our doctor's note," the elderly lady said holding a prescription pad note toward Susan. Susan took the note and read the order. It was Greg's prescription pad and it read "CMP, CBC, PSA" the signature was illegible and it didn't look quite right, but maybe he had been in a hurry. Susan ushered the couple over to the lab bench and sat the gentleman in the lab chair. She quickly prepared his arm and filled the appropriate tubes with his blood. After she finished him, the lady took his place in the chair.

"I don't think this is for you," Susan said.

"Yes, we were told that both of us needed this blood work done," the lady insisted.

"Well," Susan said, "this last test listed on the note is not for women," as she pointed to the test for PSA.

"Maybe I'm only supposed to have the other two tests," the lady offered. "I know I'm supposed to have blood work done too."

Susan shrugged her shoulders and decided to go along with it. When she finished and the couple left Laura asked, "Does that kind of thing happen very often?"

"No, usually patients are sent to phlebotomy which is right adjacent to the main laboratory," Susan said. She put the two tubes for the CMP panel next to the centrifuge to spin down as soon as they were ready and put the two tubes for the CBC test next to the flow cytometer. She went back over to the chemistry instrument to finish the daily maintenance when another elderly couple walked in the lab. This time it was the gentleman that spoke up.

"We have to get this blood work done," he said handing Susan the prescription. Susan took the couple to the same chair next to the lab bench and started to pull their blood when Laura noticed a murmur coming from the hall. She poked her head out and noticed a long line of elderly people standing in the hall.

"Mom? You might want to come look at this," Laura said.

Susan took the tourniquet back off the arm of the gentleman and walked to the door. She went out in the hall at the long line of people, "Are all of you waiting to have your blood drawn for tests?" she asked. A series of yes's and mmmhmms came her way from the crowd. Susan walked back in the lab and picked up her phone. Two minutes later, three phlebotomists from the main lab walked in with their phlebotomy trays and set to work. In short order all the patients had their blood drawn and were sent on their way. One of the phlebotomists stayed behind to organize the tubes for testing while Susan was finally able to finish the daily maintenance on the instrument and start QC running.

"Is there anything else you need me to do, Susan?" asked the phlebotomist. There wasn't, so Susan thanked her for her help and sent her back to phlebotomy. After she left, Susan looked at Laura and said, "Let's go get something to eat. It'll be OK for this to set until we get back."

Susan paid for Laura's meal and they found a booth in the back corner of the cafeteria. "Why do you think Uncle Greg sent all those people down to you to have their blood drawn?"

"I'm not sure. It might have something to do with our patient – wanting to check the other residents for some environmental cause, but I don't think so," Susan explained as she saw Dr. Cuddy walk in the cafeteria and glance straight at her. Cuddy looked away and went to the salad bar in the cafeteria. "Anyway, I'll get the samples run this afternoon and see what happens from there." After lunch, Susan said good-bye to Laura and went back to the lab. The patient specimen was first on her agenda and then she started analyzing the retirement village residents' blood. Five hours later, she was finished. She grabbed the stack of reports and headed to House's office. She walked in the door and handed him the stack of reports.

"What's this?" he asked as he took the stack from her.

"Reports for 74 senior citizens from the retirement village and your patient," Susan said. "Your patient's results are on the top of the stack. I'm going home now." Before she walked out the door, she turned around, "Oh by the way, there are three gentlemen that probably need to be referred to Dr. Wilson."

House was still staring blankly in the direction that Susan had just left when Wilson walked in, "Now there's a sight – a perplexed looking Gregory House." House took the top report off of the stack and pushed the rest in Wilson's hands.

"You have three patients in that stack somewhere," House said as he got up and headed to the conference room where the rest of the team had gathered. "Give the rest of them to Cuddy, or throw them away. I don't care."

"Alright kids, what have you found," House said when he entered the conference room.

"We're not waiting on Susan?" asked Taub.

"Do you see her here?" he asked. "Come on people, we don't have all night – well, I don't."

"The CT doesn't show evidence of a stroke," Chase said, "but he's obviously confused and is speaking gibberish. His family says he's had a cold recently, so I went ahead and expanded the CT scan and found a lesion on his lung." Chase handed the scan over to House who held it up to the light to look.

"Get a biopsy and take a sputum sample," House ordered.

"I'll call Susan back," Taub said as he reached for his phone.

"No, you'll take the sputum specimen and start the cultures yourself," House countered.

"The reason we have a lab tech is to make our lives easier," Taub said. "We may as well utilize her skills."

"Because you have more important things to contemplate in your head – and I'm not talking about the one on your shoulders. Susan is busy tonight; you'll take the specimens yourself and start the cultures. She'll finish up the stains in the morning when she comes in."

Taub looked at his watch, "That'll take several hours; I have plans."

"Then I guess you'll have to cancel. Next time don't pawn off your work on the rest of your team mates," House looked at Foreman, "After you take the biopsy, set it up to fix overnight and Susan will process the tissue tomorrow; the rest of you can go."

MDMDMDMDMD

Her cell phone rang and Susan smiled when she saw the caller ID. "Hey," she said. "Are you back from camping already?"

"Phillip decided he'd had enough of the mosquitos and wanted to come home," David answered. "I was wondering if you and Laura would like to come over for dinner. I thought we'd fire up the grill and eat out on the patio."

Laura was interested to go along and meet this guy that she could see was capturing her mother's heart, so the two of them changed and headed to David's house. Along the way, Susan stopped to pick up a watermelon at the local farmers market to share after dinner. David was still setting up the grill when they arrived, so Phillip answered the door. "Hello Phillip," Susan said, "this is my daughter Laura."

Laura held out her hand in greeting, but Phillip didn't notice. His eyes had gone wide and his mouth dropped open. Laura was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Finally Susan broke his trance, "Phillip, are you going to let us in?"

"Uh…yeah, um….hi," he said suddenly embarrassed as he stepped aside to let them in. "Dad's in the back."

Susan looked at Laura and grinned as they stepped inside, "I think he likes you," she whispered. They followed Phillip to the back yard where they found David lighting the charcoal. He looked up when he heard them come outside and smiled when he saw Susan. He came over to them and gave Susan a small kiss and introduced himself to Laura. After the greetings were done Laura went over to Phillip and the two started chatting. Susan busied herself slicing tomatoes and lettuce to go with the hamburgers David was planning on grilling. It wasn't long before Laura and Phillip were laughing. "It seems they are getting along well," Susan said. "He was pretty shy when he opened the door. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw Laura."

David chuckled, "Well a pretty girl will do that to a guy."

"I didn't think he was much interested in girls yet," Susan said.

"Well, he likes to pretend he isn't, but I'm noticing he's looking their direction a lot more often than he did even just last month. It won't be long before we'll be having that talk about what's appropriate behavior and what isn't around a lady."

"Mom?" Laura had come up next to her with Phillip not far behind. Susan looked up from her slicing. "Do you happen to have your softball equipment and your cleats in the jeep? Phillip says he's learning to play catcher and I thought I would pitch to him."

"Sounds like a great idea and yes, the equipment is in the back," Susan replied pulling her keys out of her pocket and handing them over. Before long Laura and Phillip were back. Phillip had put on his catcher's gear and Laura was slipping on her mother's cleats. Laura marked the catcher's plate for Phillip and then walked about 20 feet away from him.

"I have to warm up first – oh, and this will be underhanded pitching," Laura announced to Phillip. She started her warm ups by pitching the ball to him at short distances with ¼ then ½ and then ¾ rounds with her arm. When she was warm, she moved back to about 50 feet, "Are you ready? I'll start slower and then pick up the speed." Phillip nodded that he was ready and Laura started pitching. Susan and David watched the kids while they prepared dinner. It wasn't long before Laura was pitching full speed.

"Wow, she can really pitch," David exclaimed.

"We clocked her at 63mph when she was playing in high school," Susan said. "She's either slowed down from being out of practice or she's taking it easy on Phillip. I'd say right now, she's averaging 55, but that's just a guess."

"She doesn't play at the University?" David asked.

"No, by the time she finished high school; she was burned out and didn't want to play competitively anymore. It's too bad because she had a full scholarship to play at a couple of the smaller Universities in Texas, but I didn't want to make her do something she didn't want to do just so it would be easier on me financially. She has some academic scholarships where she is going, so that helps," Susan explained.

The hamburgers were finished, so David called the kids over to fix their plates. Soon they were all sitting on the patio with their plates. David asked the blessing and they all dug in.

MDMDMDMDMD

The next morning Susan found that Dr. Taub had been in the lab. He left a note indicating that there were cultures growing in the incubator and tissue was fixing and ready to be processed. Susan started with the tissue by taking it down to histology. She requested the tissue be processed with the batch they were just getting ready to start and to let her know when it was ready. She'd come down to take care of the embedding and sectioning herself. Back in her lab, she checked the cultures; they hadn't grown anything yet, so she headed to the conference room for the differential. When she arrived, Dr. Taub was complaining to the rest of the team about having to stay late the night before just to set up cultures and fix the biopsy material. "Why didn't you call me back?" Susan asked.

"Because I told him to do it himself," House said from behind her when he came into the room. "Anything on those cultures this morning?"

"Not yet," Susan answered. "I've taken the tissue down to histology for processing; I should be able to stain it this afternoon. The tissue processor is set for a fast run."

House sat at the head of the table looking over the patient chart. The team started the differential without much input from House. Finally he said, "This has to be an infection, start him on a broad spectrum antibiotic."

"There's no fever," Chase said. "We should perform an LP before we jump to any conclusions."

"It's faster to treat and if he gets better, we know we were right," House countered.

"I'm not ready to call it an infection without some sort of evidence," Chase said.

"Fine, go get your LP. In the meantime Susan, run an acid fast stain on the left-over sputum material."

"Umm, she can't," Taub said.

"Why not?"

"I threw it out after I started the cultures."

House was annoyed, "Never throw out specimens until the patient is released. Go get another sample and run an acid fast stain."

Susan turned to leave, "Where are you going?" House asked.

"To collect the specimen and run the stain," Susan explained.

House looked over to Taub, "I was talking to you, not Susan."

Taub looked at his watch.

"Got someplace you need to be?" House asked.

"Well, actually…"

"Don't care. Go. Do," House said.

Chase, Foreman and Thirteen had already left to do the LP, leaving Taub to fend for himself against House. Taub turned to leave the office. Susan stayed behind a moment, "I really didn't mind getting the sample myself."

"I know. He's doing everything he can to avoid work right now, so I'm glad to remind him that he has a job to do here that is more important than his closet rendezvous."

"Rendezvous?" Susan asked.

"He's cheating on his girlfriend with his ex," House explained.

"And you know this how?"

"Do you really have to ask?" he replied.

"Right; later," Susan said and left for the lab. As she got off the elevator, she saw a long line of senior citizens outside her lab door, "Seriously?" she said to herself. She went to the first gentleman in line, "Can I help you with something?" The gentleman handed her a script with House's signature on it. The script was requesting tests for TSH, PSA and hsCRP. It was a rather odd combination of tests and again the signature didn't look quite right. "If you'll bear with me, I'll be right back." She quickly counted the people lined up and glanced at a few of the scripts. They were all for the same set of tests. There weren't quite as many folks this time, but the tests requested took longer to run than the previous set. Susan went inside the lab and called phlebotomy and then took the first couple inside to the lab. Soon two phlebotomists showed up with their trays in hand and started collecting the specimens. "What do you suppose is going on?" one of the phlebotomists asked. "Why is Dr. House sending all these people directly to you instead of coming to phlebotomy?

"I think somebody is trying to teach me a lesson," Susan said.

"Are you going to need any more help when we finish pulling the blood?" another one asked.

"I could use some help getting the tubes organized and the tests entered in the system if you have time," she answered. The phone rang and Susan answered it. When she hung up the phone, she said to the phlebotomists, "I need to run down to histology to embed and section my specimens from this morning. Will you be OK without me?"

The phlebotomists were fine and agreed to stay until everybody's blood was drawn and the specimens prepared for testing. Susan was happy for their help and headed down to histology.

Nearly two hours later she was back in her own lab. The specimens were all organized and tests entered, so Susan set to work getting them on the chemistry analyzer. Thirteen walked in the lab, and looked at the rack of tubes, "What is all of this?" she asked.

"Somebody's idea of a joke I think," Susan replied. "I have to run TSH, PSA and hsCRP on all of the specimens."

"That's an odd combination, who ordered the tests?"

"Well, the scripts have House's signature on them, but,"

"This isn't House's signature," Thirteen interrupted as she looked through the paperwork.

"I know."

"So what are you going to do?" Thirteen asked.

"I'm going to run the tests and hand the reports over to Dr. House just like I did yesterday," Susan said.

Thirteen picked up a rack of tubes, "Here let me do this and you can get started on the histology samples of our actual patient."

"Thanks," Susan said glad to have the help. She went over to the staining station and started working on the slides she had previously sectioned in histology while the phlebotomists were taking care of her long line of senior citizens.

"You know this is getting really old," Susan said as she walked into House's office carrying the large stack of reports from the senior citizens. She handed him the results of the histology samples, "There still isn't any growth on the sputum samples." Susan sat down in the chair in front of his desk and sat the stack of senior citizen reports in her lap.

House looked over the data, "What about the acid fast stain?"

"Positive," Susan answered.

"You already know the answer, don't you?" House asked.

Susan grinned, "I'm thinking TB."

"So why aren't we seeing growth on the sputum sample?" House asked.

"It's slow growing; it'll be there by Monday. All the other evidence points to TB," Susan answered.

"I concur. So who do you think will be the first to catch on?" House asked.

"No question – Thirteen."

"How much?"

Susan thought about it a minute, "If I win, you take Laura and me out to dinner tonight and if you win, I'll fix you whatever you want Sunday night."

"Why would I have to wait until Sunday?"

"Because whatever you want will be complicated and will take time to prepare – and I work all day during the week and Saturday is already full." Susan explained.

Thirteen rushed in the door, "I think it's TB!" she said.

"Yes!" Susan said. "I think Mexican sounds good. Pick us up at seven." Susan handed the reports from the nursing home over to House and walked out the door.

House handed Thirteen the lab results for the patient, "Start the treatment," he said as he got up and walked out the door to the balcony to visit Wilson.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Wilson looked up as House walked in his office with the stack of reports, "What are you doing with those?" he asked indicating the reports in his hand.

"Bringing them to you," he said as he handed them over.

Wilson grabbed the stack and started leafing through them. As he did so, he set a few aside noticing higher PSA levels that needed follow-up. "Why are you ordering all these tests?" he asked.

"I'm not," House said.

"Your name is listed as the ordering physician," he noted.

"I'm aware of that, but I'm not ordering the tests. The 'patients' are showing up outside of Susan's lab with test orders on my prescription pad," House explained.

"This is a fairly odd combination of tests," Wilson observed. "What was that last batch?" he said more to himself than to House. Wilson reached down to another stack on the floor and pulled up the top sheet, "CMP, PSA, CBC" he mused. "These tests make more sense for a general checkup, but these," lifting up the set House had just handed him, "are a lot more specific."

"And they take a lot more time," House added.

"The stack of these is much smaller than yesterdays," Wilson said.

"But they take about the same amount of time," House observed.

"Who do you think is doing this?" Wilson asked.

"Whoever it is, they're trying to make sure that Susan stays busy all day," House said. "I need to test a theory." House walked out the door and went back around his office.

MDMDMDMDMD

By the next morning, the patient had started to respond to treatment confirming TB. Thirteen walked in the lab and found Susan working on her notes for class the next week. "Looks like the patient is responding," she said.

"That's great. There still isn't any growth on the cultures though. If we don't see anything by Monday, it might be a decent case study for you guys to write up." Susan said.

Thirteen nodded, "So what was that deal last night?"

Susan looked at her with some confusion. "You know, I came in and mentioned TB and you got all excited."

"Oh," Susan said. "Dr. House and I had a bet to see which of you would come up with the answer first. I said you would and we bet dinner over it."

"So who did he think would get it first?" Thirteen asked.

"You," Susan said. Now it was Thirteen's turn to look confused. "He actually never said, but I know him well enough to know that he was just using the bet as a way to do something nice for Laura and me without looking like he was doing something nice. Don't tell him I know that though – he'd just deny it."

"But you'd already figured it out," Thirteen said. "Did you beat House to the conclusion too?"

"No. I'm pretty sure he had it figured out as soon as he saw the lesion on the scan, but Dr. Chase was adamant about getting an LP," Susan explained. "I didn't figure it out until I saw the histology and the acid fast stain on the sputum sample. You, however, got it before you had even seen the lab results – Kudos. This case wasn't cut and dried."

"None of them ever are," Thirteen said. "You should have gone into medicine Susan; you'd make a good doctor."

"Maybe," Susan said. "I lack patience with people."

"And House does?" Thirteen said rhetorically.

"Point taken," Susan said. "I'm a little old at this point anyway."

"You're never too old," Thirteen said. She looked at her watch, "I've got clinic duty. Later."

Susan went back to her notes and started writing the next exam for her students.

"Ma'am?" and elderly voice said.

Susan looked up, "Yes?"

"Are you Susan?"

"Yes."

The woman held out a script to her with a test order. Susan took the script and closed her eyes and sighed.

"Are you OK?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Susan answered. "How many people came with you?"

"It's just me," she said.

Susan nodded with relief and took the lady over to the lab bench to take her blood. After she was finished, she put the blood in the centrifuge to spin and she sat back down at her desk to continue working on her exam. She had no more than started writing the next question on the exam when she was interrupted again. This time a gentleman was standing there holding a script. Susan got up and looked in the hallway; nobody. "You're alone?" she asked.

"Yes," the man replied.

Susan shrugged and took the man over to pull his blood. When she was finished, she sat back down to work on her exam. Soon another gentleman walked in the door, "Susan?" Susan closed her book and put her notebook away.

"How may I help you?" Susan asked the gentleman. He handed her a script and Susan directed him over to the lab bench to draw his blood. When she was finished, she sat at the bench and waited for the next patient to walk in. Sure enough it wasn't long before another woman walked in the door. Over the course of a couple of hours, 12 patients had come to the lab to have their blood drawn. Susan waiting another fifteen minutes and when nobody else came, she started processing the specimens. Actually running the tests didn't take too long as these were fairly simple assays. She gathered the reports and headed to House's office.

Wilson was sitting in House's office when Susan walked in her batch of reports. "What do you want me to do with them?" she asked.

House motioned over to Wilson and he glanced through the reports. "I don't see anybody here that needs follow-up," he said. "This was a fairly easy set, just a lipid panel and glucose on each. At least it didn't take you hours to do the testing."

"No, except that each patient came into the lab in 15 minute intervals. Not enough time to get started on anything and yet enough time to keep me from being able to do anything," Susan said.

"Do you have any idea who is doing it?" Wilson asked.

"I thought it was Taub for a while," Susan started.

"It's not Taub," House said. I found him in the janitor's closet with his ex-wife yesterday and threatened to tell his girlfriend if he didn't come clean. He swears it's not him."

"No it's not. Dr. Taub and I have had issues in the past, but he's come to respect my work so he wouldn't stoop to this. If it's not Taub, then the only other option is a little more problematic. I don't have any choice but to do the testing, unless you want to step in," the last part was addressed to House.

He shook his head, "It's your problem; you deal with it."

Susan nodded. "I'm headed out now. David and I are going out tonight."

"Things getting serious?" Wilson asked.

"They're progressing nicely," Susan acknowledged, her face turning a little pink.

"He's a good man Susan, you could do worse," Wilson said.

"Like you for instance," House said.

Wilson rolled his eyes and Susan left the men to their bantering. Susan walked back into her lab and noticed the message light flashing on her phone. She picked up the phone and listened to the message. There was an unscheduled softball game tomorrow night at 5:00 and she needed to be there by 4:30. _Well, so much for taking Laura to New York tomorrow_, she thought to herself as she packed her things to go home.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Susan was in her bedroom getting ready with Laura sitting on the bed watching her. "So, how serious is this getting mom?" she asked.

"We're just seeing each other, nothing serious at this point," Susan answered.

"You _like_ him though," it was a question as much as a statement.

"Well, if I didn't like him, I wouldn't be seeing him."

"You know what I mean, mom," Laura said exasperatingly.

"He's nice and is caring and he's a perfect gentleman."

"That doesn't answer my question," Laura said.

Susan paused from putting on her make-up as she looked at Laura in the mirror, "Yes, I _like_ him," she said and resumed putting on her make-up.

"Do you think you'd like it to be more?" Laura asked.

"You're sure full of questions," Susan said.

Laura sighed, "I know things weren't perfect with Dad. I mean, I know you loved him and he loved you even though he didn't show it a lot, but I know you had issues. I think it would be nice for you to find someone you could be comfortable with."

"I wasn't uncomfortable with your father," Susan said.

"I know, but I also know that he didn't always treat you as nice as he should have and I know he hurt your feelings a lot even though you did your best to hide it," Laura explained. "I'd like you to have a different kind of relationship now. I want you to be happy."

"Sweetheart, I'm not unhappy. I'm not a bouncy off-the-wall kind of person, you know that."

"I see worry in your face," Laura explained.

"That doesn't have anything to do with David."

"I know. You're worried about Uncle Greg."

"Some yes, but I know he'll eventually be OK. I love him very much and I just don't like to see him hurt," Susan explained.

"It's too bad you didn't know him all your life."

"Yeah it is, but I'm glad to have him now," Susan said as she turned from the mirror, "Well, how do I look?"

"Perfect. If David isn't in love with you yet, he will be as soon as he sees you tonight," Laura said.

Susan laughed, "Well if he falls in love just by looking at me, I think that falls more in the category of lust – not love."

Laura smiled, "Well, a little lust in a relationship isn't such a bad thing is it?"

Susan just looked at her daughter and shook her head, "Alright you nut, he'll be here any minute. Let's go wait in the living room."

They had no more than just stepped in the living room when there was a knock on the door. Laura went to open the door and let David inside. "I hope I'm not too early," he said.

"No, you're just in time," Laura said as she turned toward her mother. "Your date is here."

"I can see that," Susan said. "Let me get my purse and then we can go."

When Susan and David left, Laura went in her room to get her music from her bag. She had a new blues piece she was working on as part of her music appreciation class. Each student in the class had to choose a particular genre and at the end of the semester they each had to perform a couple of pieces for the rest of the class. Laura had spent most of her time learning classical pieces and thought that blues would make an interesting subject. Of course she'd been influenced a bit as she knew that her uncle was a big fan of blues and wanted to find something they could enjoy together. She sat down at the spinet and started on her piece. She'd been playing for nearly an hour when there was a knock at the door. She went to answer it and when she opened the door; her Uncle was standing on the other side. "Uncle Greg, come in. I was just working on a blues piece and…"

"Oh that's what you call that," he interrupted.

"I know I have a lot of work to do on it," she said.

"Yeah – it sucked," House replied as he went over to the piano. He sat down at the piano and worked his hands over the keys then looked over at Laura. "Are you going to sit down over here or just stand over there and gawk?"

Laura walked over to the piano bench and sat down next to her uncle. He played a small ditty and then looked at her, "your turn." Laura tried to repeat the same bit that House had played, but he stopped her, "No. Listen." He played it again and this time Laura was able to play it back albeit a bit rougher. "Do it again," he said. After she played it, he played another small bit followed by Laura. They continued in this manner for about an hour playing back and forth. Each time, he played something a little more complicated and Laura repeated what he did. Finally he picked up the piece of music she was working on and looked it over. After a moment, the corner of his mouth turned up and pulled his ipod out of his pocket. He messed with it for a moment and then handed the ear buds to Laura. She put them in and listened to the piece. She followed along reading the music as she listened. After the song was finished, he put the ipod back in his pocket. "Play it." Laura set the music on the piano stand and started to play the piece. She hadn't even gotten through the first three lines before House stopped her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm playing the piece," she answered.

"No, you're hacking away at it, you're not playing it. Listen." House played the first several lines of the piece.

"But that's not what's written! You've completely skipped these notes and added at least three chord progressions that aren't there," she said as she pointed to the music.

"And that's your problem," House explained. "You're treating this music like you treat one of your classical pieces when you're trying to learn it. Blues isn't like that, it's not exact - you have to feel it. Pour your soul into the music and let it flow out of your fingers."

"I can't do that. I'm classically trained, how am I supposed to 'pour my soul' into the music?" she said fingering the quotes as she spoke.

"You can do that and you do. I've seen you do it," House said.

"When have you ever seen me do that?" Laura asked indignantly.

"Remember when your mother and I went to your recital and you played Chopin's "Raindrop"? House asked. Laura nodded. "You got lost in the music; it was as if you were playing the thunderstorm and water drops into existence. That's what I'm talking about. Put your heart in it and make it come alive."

Laura started again.

Susan and David were walking up the steps and just outside the door when they heard Laura start playing again.

"No! Here let me help you," House's voice came through the door followed by the sound of crumpling paper.

"Hey! That wasn't mine. I have to give it back," Laura started to get up to retrieve the crumpled sheet music he'd thrown across the room when House reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could go anywhere and pulled her back down.

"Sit. Play," he said.

Susan and David entered the room, "What's going on?" Susan asked.

"Nothing mom, its fine," Laura said. "Really, its fine," she added when she saw the look of concern on her mother's face.

"Greg?" Susan asked.

"She said it was fine," House said.

Susan stared at them a moment longer and then turned toward the kitchen with David not far behind, "Is everything going to be OK. Do you need me to stick around?" he asked.

"No, it'll be fine. I'm sure Greg's trying to get something through to Laura. She can be a bit stubborn," Susan answered.

"I think it runs in the family. I'll head out then," he said and then pulled Susan close to kiss her goodnight.

After a moment a voice came from the front room. "If you two are done sucking face in there, I could use a drink."

Susan laughed as she broke the kiss, "Yes, your highness!" Susan grabbed two Dr. Peppers and a Diet Coke out of the fridge and walked out to the front room. David went to the door to let himself out, "I'll call you later."

Laura had started playing again when Susan walked in and handed Greg his Dr. Pepper. She set Laura's down on the coffee table and then went in the back room to change into something more comfortable, picking up the crumpled sheet music on her way. When she emerged from her room, Laura had managed to make it halfway through the song without House interrupting her. As she continued to play, he put his hands on the keys and played with her. Susan sat down and watched with awe as the two of them played the piece together. She always thought that Laura resembled Jeff more than her, but when she saw her daughter and her brother side by side, she realized the family resemblance went beyond just eye color. The talent that they also shared was remarkable.

"Earth to mom," Laura said pulling Susan back to reality. "I asked you, how did your date go?"

"Oh, it was fine," Susan said.

"Just fine? I want the juicy details," Laura said.

"Yeah, we want to know all about the groping and unbridled sex," House said.

"First of all, you're not getting any juicy details," she said pointing to Susan and turning to House, "and second of all – there is no 'groping and unbridled sex'."

"Sure there is, you just don't want to talk about it in front of your kid," House said.

"You're right, I wouldn't want to talk about it in front of my kid, but it doesn't change the fact that there is no groping and unbridled sex. David is a perfect gentleman."

"Then he's gay," House said.

"He's not gay, he's just principled," Susan said.

"And I'm not?" House said.

"You're principled, just about different things," Susan said.

House got up from the piano and sat down next to Susan, "I'm principled when it matters. There's nothing wrong with groping your girlfriend. It's what makes relationships interesting."

"It's what makes relationships shallow and less likely to succeed," Susan countered.

House didn't have a retort, "Where's your remote?"

"Wow. I actually won. The great Gregory House was rendered speechless" Susan said as she handed the remote to him.

"You didn't win, I just didn't think it was worth arguing about," House said.

"Well, I'm tired so I'm going to bed." Laura got up and gave her mother a kiss goodnight and went over to House and bent over to give him a hug, "Good night Uncle Greg, and thanks."

"Goodnight kid," House said without returning the hug and obviously uncomfortable with the contact.

House and Susan watched television for a little while, well – House watched the television. Susan watched him switch from channel to channel without staying on anything for very long at a time. "I've decided that the gene for "remote thumb" is located directly on the Y chromosome," she said after several minutes of House flipping from channel to channel.

"There's nothing on," he said.

"There never is," she said.

He settled on a news channel and after a few moments he spoke, "How many sexual partners have you had?"

Susan looked over at House, "Seriously, you're asking me this?"

"Seriously."

"Why?"

"I'm curious."

"Why?"

"Just am."

Susan turned back toward the television as the weather came on. After several moments of silence she finally said, "one."

House looked over at Susan, "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why just one?"

"I was only married to one."

"You only ever had sex with Jeff?"

"Well, I wasn't married to anybody else."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why just Jeff?"

"Didn't we just go through that?"

"So you were a virgin until you married Jeff?"

"Didn't say that."

"No, you said you were only married to one, which implies that Jeff popped you on your wedding night."

"What a pleasant visual – thanks for putting it that way."

"You're welcome….…...Well?"

"Well what?"

"So when did you and Jeff do the deed?"

"Why is it important?"

"It's not."

The news had moved on from the weather to sports. Susan was silent, finally she said, "About two months before we were married."

"It was a mistake," she added.

"Why was it a mistake? You were practically married."

"Because we weren't married and it was a horrible experience. I felt guilty for weeks afterwards and because I allowed him to do that to me, he thought I would give in to other things too. Which I didn't, but he thought I would and it led to a lot of disagreements and hurt feelings. Our intimate life was horrible and if I hadn't have given in; maybe it would have been better."

"The first time usually isn't pleasant for the girl, you should know that," House said.

"Well, it never got any better. I know it seems silly, but I always kinda figured it was my punishment for giving in to temptation. Look, Laura doesn't know, so don't tell her, OK?"

"I think she knows you had sex," House said.

"Of course she does, but she doesn't know that her mother acted like a slut before she got married. So don't tell her," Susan implored.

"One sexual encounter with your fiancé does not make you a slut. Actually, it's remarkable you held out that long," House said.

"I'm glad you hold me in such high regard," Susan said.

"Seriously Susan, most people don't make it past the first date," House said.

"Only you would think that," Susan said.

"Hmmph," House said.

The news ended and the tonight show came on.

"What do you mean, "It never got any better"?" House asked.

"What's with all the questions?" Susan asked.

"I'm just curious,"

"About your sister's sex life?"

"Well, as your brother it's important for me to know things."

"I don't think it's important that you know these things."

"Then why do you keep answering me?"

Susan faced forward again as Jay Leno started his beginning monolog. After another few moments of silence she said, "It never felt good. I think sex is only enjoyable for men. Women just put up with it."

"Cuddy didn't," House said. "She was a real animal."

"She was probably faking."

House smiled at some of his own memories, "No, she wasn't faking." After a few more moments House said, "There's no justification for your theory."

"What theory?"

"Women just put up with it."

"What's your evidence?"

"The large preponderance of teenage pregnancies and extra marital affairs," House said.

"Well, maybe the teenage pregnancies are a result of being pressured by the boyfriends to put out and maybe the affairs are because the wives are tired of putting out," Susan said.

"You've got your head in the sand," House said.

"Maybe, but that's my experience."

House started to get up to leave, but hesitated.

"Is something wrong?" Susan asked.

House just shook his head.

"Come on, spill."

"I'd like to stay here tonight," House finally said.

"Then stay, you're always welcome here," Susan said. "You know where the guest room is, breakfast is at nine." Susan got up, went to her bedroom and closed the door.

House got up from the couch and went to the guest room. Being the snoop that he was, he started going through the drawers. Interestingly, he found men's clothing in them; packages of underwear and socks – all unopened, and a pair of pajama bottoms. Even more interestingly, they were all in his size. He opened the closet and found two pairs of jeans and several t-shirts; also all in his size. A little more snooping and he found an unopened toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant. Susan stood in the doorway, "Find everything you need?"

"Yeah."

"I told you, you're always welcome here," she said as she turned to go back to her room. "Good night Greg."

"Goodnight Susan."

MDMDMDMDMD

House woke to the sounds and smells of frying eggs and sausage and brewing coffee. He stumbled into the bathroom and then made his way to the kitchen. "Oh the dead do come back to life," Laura said when she saw her uncle standing in the doorway in his pajama bottoms and t-shirt. House didn't reply as he headed over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I thought you didn't like coffee," he said to Susan.

"I don't, but you do and Laura has developed a taste for it as well, so I bought a coffee pot. Have a seat, breakfast will be ready in just a few," Susan said.

"Are we going to New York today mom?" Laura asked.

"No, I don't think so. There is an unscheduled game tonight, I don't think we would make it back in time," Susan said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not a problem, I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway. New York is over rated anyway," Laura said.

"What time is the game?" This question was from House.

"Five,"

"I'll probably need to leave right afterwards mom if I want to make it back to school before it gets too late," Laura announced.

"Oh, I thought you were staying until Sunday," Susan said.

"I was, but I remembered that I have a paper due and I need to finish it," she said.

"You have a paper due on Monday and you haven't started it?" Susan asked. "That's not very good planning on your part."

"It's not a big deal mom, it's just an opinion paper so it's not like there is a lot of research I need to do for it. Oh, and the next tuition payment is due Monday as well. If you just want to write a check, I can drop it off at the bursar's office before I go to class," Laura said.

"Just like that, huh?" Susan said. "I'll get online and pay it Friday."

"It's due Monday, Mom."

"Relax; they're not going to kick you out of school just because we're a week late on the payment. I'll pay it Friday."

"Mom,"

"Laura, that's enough. The subject is closed."

"Yes ma'am."

House watched the entire exchange without comment, but finally spoke up, "How much longer on breakfast?"

"It's ready," Susan said. She brought a plate of eggs and sausage links to the table. Soon following was a bowl of fried potatoes, a boat of gravy and a stack of biscuits.

House's mouth started to water, "Do you cook breakfast like this every weekend? I might start coming over more often." He started filling his plate and was just ready to take a bite when he noticed Susan and Laura looking at him. "Oh yeah; sorry." He put his fork down and Susan said the blessing. As he started eating he said, "I still don't understand why you continue to believe in your imaginary friend."

"And I don't understand why you don't," Susan said.

"Because it isn't logical," he said.

"Neither is something from nothing," Susan said.

"Just because we don't understand it yet, doesn't mean there isn't an explanation," House said.

"And just because there is an explanation, doesn't mean that my 'imaginary friend' as you call Him didn't make it happen." Susan countered. "We've had this argument before."

"That's what I like about you, you have your opinion and you stick to it regardless of how illogical it is," House said.

"Not necessarily. I've changed some of my beliefs over time as I have learned more. I can be convinced by data. Most of me is geared as much to reason and logic as you, but I also have the capacity to believe in something that can't be proven," Susan explained.

"And I don't?" House said.

"You tell me," Susan said.

House looked down at his plate and started to pick up another fork full of food. He looked at Susan, "I wish I could," he said quietly, "but I can't."

Susan reached out and grabbed his hand and squeezed it as a gentle reminder that she loved him regardless of what he believed or didn't.

House put another fork full of food in his mouth, "This is really good."

"I thought you might like an old fashioned country breakfast. I haven't fixed one in a really long time."

By the time breakfast was over, House had eaten three platefuls of food. Susan and Laura cleaned up while House was in the shower. When he emerged, he sat down at the piano with Laura for another blues lesson. By the time they were finished, Laura had the piece down. Susan spent the time they were working on the music, straightening out the crumpled sheet music so that Laura could return it to the school.

"How'd you get it so flat?" Laura asked when she handed it to her.

"Used the iron. It's not perfect, but it should work," Susan said. "If they ask just tell them that your uncle threw a temper tantrum. House threw her a glare that contained no malice. Susan laughed and went into the kitchen to put a roast in the slow cooker for the evening's meal.

House walked in the kitchen, "What's cooking?"

"Hungry already?" Susan asked.

"Always," he said.

"You probably need to be checked for a tape worm," Susan teased. "I'm fixing a pot roast. David's coming over after the game tonight."

"So, I guess I'm not invited," House said.

"What did I tell you earlier? You're always welcome here," Susan said. "It'd be good for you to get to know David."

"Why?"

"Wilson's great, but you know it's OK to have more than one friend," Susan said.

"I'll keep that under advisement."

House went back in the front room and turned on the television, "When are you going to get cable?" he hollered as he flipped through the few network channels that were available.

"When you start paying for it," she hollered back. Susan finished preparing the pot roast and then went back into Greg's room. She stripped the sheets and picked up his clothes that he had strewn around the room and headed to the laundry. After depositing the clothes into the wash and collecting Laura's clothes from the dryer, she headed into Laura's room to fold them. Laura followed her in and pulled out her bag. As Susan folded, Laura packed.

"Mom, I'm think I should get a job."

"You don't have time to work Laura," Susan answered. "You're already pulling 16 hours per semester and you're not taking easy classes. On top of that your piano takes up most of your free time and since half of your scholarship money is based on your music, then you have to keep that up."

"I could take the student loan that I qualified for, that would make it easier on you wouldn't it?" she asked.

"But it wouldn't make it easier on you. You're going to come out of medical school in debt anyway because I can't begin to afford that. I don't want you to have to load your undergraduate on top of that. We're going to get through this; we're a little behind right now, but I get paid on Friday and I'll be able to make the payment then," Susan said.

"But that won't leave any money for you to live on for the next two weeks," Laura said.

"You let me worry about that. You just keep your grades up so you can retain your scholarships. I'm going to be fine, it's not like I'm going to starve," Susan said.

After the clothes were folded and packed away, Laura went ahead and loaded up her car and came back inside, "Mom, would it hurt your feelings if I skipped your game and headed on back to school? I think I probably need to get started a little earlier on that paper that's due Monday."

"Of course not; feel free to go whenever you think you need to," Susan said.

Laura gave her a hug and went to say to goodbye to House and headed back to school. Susan watched her walk out the door and sat down heavy hearted.

"You OK?" House asked.

"Sure. It's always hard to watch her go. I always feel a little empty inside when she leaves. It's a mom thing," Susan explained.

"Empty nest syndrome," House said.

"I think it's a little harder for me since she's my only child. Most of the other mothers at her high school had younger children to concentrate on when their oldest left home."

"Why didn't you have more than one?" House asked.

"Jeff didn't want any more children. He loved Laura very much and she definitely had him wrapped around her little finger, but he just didn't think we needed any more children," Susan explained. "As hard as it was to accept at the time, he was right in the end. It would have been really hard to take care of more children while I was caring for my dad and then afterwards, him.

"You could have taken care of that yourself you know," House said.

"Oh, you mean by 'forgetting the pill' or poking holes in the prophylactics? No, I couldn't do that. I have real issues with dishonesty," Susan said. "I will always regret having only had one child, but I love Laura with all my heart and I'm blessed to have her, especially considering the issues I had during my pregnancy. You want a sandwich or anything?" she asked changing the subject.

"Sure," House said as he got up. "Come on." House led Susan outside and gave her his helmet. "Put it on." Susan fastened the helmet under her chin while House mounted the bike. She climbed on behind him and he took off. It wasn't long before they were riding through the countryside. Susan thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It had been nearly 30 years since the last time she had ridden on the back of her dad's motorcycle when she was just a teenager. Greg handled the bike well and it wasn't long before her body remembered how to be a good passenger on a bike. All too soon he was pulling into a small diner. Susan dismounted and removed the helmet while House got off the bike and pulled his cane out of its holder. He secured the helmet and then they went inside.

"Hey sweetie, how're doin'?" the elderly waitress said as she came up to House and squeezed his arm. "It's been a few weeks since you've come to see me. Where's your lady?"

"We broke up," House said simply.

"Ah, well she wasn't good enough for ya anyway," she said. She looked over at Susan and then glanced over at House, "And I guess this is your sister or cousin or somethin', look too much alike to be a new squeeze."

Susan was impressed, not many made the connection so quickly. "Sister," she said.

The waitress nodded, "Well come on back, any family of my honeybunch is welcome here."

"Your 'honeybunch'?" Susan teased House.

House just shrugged and followed the waitress to a table.

The meal was simple, yet tasty. Susan had just taken her last bite when House asked, "What time do you have to be at the field?"

"4:30," she said.

House glanced at his watch, "You've got a couple of hours; let's ride for a bit." House paid for their meal and they took off. House drove her through the back roads of the countryside for a little over an hour before he headed back to Princeton.

When he dropped her off she asked, "Coming to the game?"

"I doubt it," he said.

"Ok. Thanks for the ride, that was a lot of fun," Susan replied. She turned to go inside her apartment.

House watched her go inside and then took off. He stopped to fuel his bike and then went to his apartment for a moment. When he got there, his message light was flashing. He punched the button; "House, we need to talk," Cuddy's voice came through.

"Like hell," he said to himself. He went to the back room for a pit stop, and then turned to leave again. He grabbed his helmet and headed out the door. He got back on his bike and took off to nowhere in particular. As he drove through the countryside images of Cuddy and Rachel filled his mind. He remembered the first time Rachel had climbed on his lap after she was rejected from the preschool. He had been shocked by that and didn't really know how to react, but inside he felt accepted and that it was one more step toward some level of fulfillment. He loved Cuddy so much and was really fond of Rachel, but it was over and there was no going back. She'd made her choice and he didn't care what she wanted to talk about. He hoped that one day he'd be able to love again, but he just couldn't see it happening. He didn't deserve to be loved. His mind went blank again as he continued his ride and then he thought of Susan. No, he didn't deserve to be loved, but Susan loved him. She didn't care about how he acted or what he said. She didn't even care than he was an addict, except for what it did to him physically. She loved him as he was. He knew she did because even though she told him on a regular basis, her actions expressed her love for him even more. Why couldn't he have been allowed to grow up with her? He missed out on a lot not having her underfoot when she was little. He wondered what it would have been like to have her following him around when he was a teenager, would he have thought she was a pain or would they have been buddies. A strong part of him thought they would have been buddies. He would have gotten annoyed with her from time to time, but it would have been fun. Well, there was no point in thinking about the "what ifs". She was always doing things for him; it was time to turn the tables. House turned around and went back to Princeton.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Susan came up to bat. There were two outs. The first pitch was high and the second pitch was outside. The third pitch was falling straight over the plate, Susan swung and missed. She'd swung early. She stepped out the box and told herself to wait on the ball. She stepped back into the box and prepared for the next pitch. It was perfect. Susan held back and then swung as hard as she could, she hit it and it sailed to left field, and was caught. She jogged back to the dugout to get her catchers gear. She didn't have to wear full protection in this league, but because of her recent eye surgeries, she opted to wear a helmetless face mask for a little added protection. She also wore small shin guards similar to what soccer players wore to prevent nasty bruises. It was nice not having to put on full sized shin guards and the chest protector. That stuff was so hot and it was warm outside.

David sat on the front row of the bleachers. Phillip was right beside him, "That was a great hit Susan," Phillip said as she was walking by.

Susan smiled at him, "Thanks. Would have been better if they hadn't caught it." Susan glanced up and saw Wilson sitting right behind David. She smiled, "Hey" she said as she made her way to home plate. She squatted behind the plate. The batter came up to the plate and the umpire signaled the pitcher to start. The ball came over the plate and the batter swung hitting the ball and sending it past right field. He ran to second base and stopped as in the co-ed league, men were not allowed to hit home runs and had to stop at second. The second batter came up to bat and struck out. The third batter hit the ball just past left center and took off. The runner on second base headed toward third. The outfielder threw the ball to shortstop, as another rule in co-ed was that men were not allowed to throw people out at home from the outfield, and the shortstop threw the ball to home. Susan was in position to catch the ball and tag the runner out. The ball was coming her way and she prepared herself to catch it, suddenly a body appeared in front of her and another glove snatched the ball just before she caught it and he tagged the runner out. Susan stood up straight rather taken aback by that maneuver, but she didn't say anything. She went back to her position behind the plate. "That was tacky," someone said from the bleachers. The runner from the previous hit was on 2nd base and the batter, a female, hit the ball to past right field nearly to the fence. The right fielder ran to get the ball and threw it in as hard as she could to 2nd base. Once again, Susan was in place to tag the runner out at home. The ball came toward her and she shifted to catch it when the glove reached in front of her again to snag the ball. This time the ball bounced off of the end of the pitcher's glove toward the dugout allowing the runner to make it safely home. "Seriously?" Susan said as she ran to the ball. She picked it up and threw it hard and straight to third base where the runner who had hit the ball was headed. The third baseman tagged the runner out. Susan headed back toward home plate.

The pitcher was there waiting on her when she got there, he patted her on the head and said "Great job backing me up." He went back to the pitchers plate.

David stood up and started forward when he felt a cane across his middle, "Sit. Let her handle it herself." Wilson moved over on his bench so House could sit down.

Susan felt her temper start to rise. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She squatted behind home plate. The pitch came, it was outside. Susan caught the ball and then tossed it to toward the pitcher. It went about half way, and then bounced to a stop. The pitcher glared at Susan and then walked over to pick up the ball. The second pitch was a strike, but the batter missed the ball. Susan tossed the ball to the pitcher, this time it landed half way between the pitcher and the third baseman and rolled to a stop. The third pitch was a strike, but the batter didn't swing. Susan threw the ball back to the pitcher as hard as she could from a squatting position. The ball flew toward the pitcher and he ducked out the way in defense. The ball went all the way to the fence before the centerfielder caught up with it. By this time, the rest of the team was grinning. The pitcher was a jerk and nobody on the team really liked him, but he was the best pitcher they could find so they tolerated his attitude. Finally the batter made contact with the ball, it went high foul. Susan threw off her mask and called for the ball. The pitcher ran for the ball as well and just as Susan caught it, the pitcher ran into her, knocking the ball from her hands and losing the out. The count was 2-2 with two outs. The pitcher went back to the plate and the batter stepped into the box. Susan leaned against the fence. The umpire looked at her, "Are you coming to the plate?"

"Nope," Susan said. "Apparently the pitcher thinks he can do it all himself."

The umpire nodded and turned to the pitcher. He signaled for the pitch. The pitcher looked at Susan and motioned for her to get in position. Susan shook her head and motioned for him to pitch. The umpire signaled the pitcher again. Finally the pitcher pitched the ball, the batter didn't swing and the ball rolled to the backstop. The pitcher looked at Susan and gestured to the ball. Susan shook her head and gestured for him to get the ball. He walked to the backstop and got the ball glaring at Susan the entire time. The count was 3-2. The pitcher pitched the ball, but by this time the batter was on board with Susan's act of defiance and didn't care if she struck out or not. She didn't swing. It was an obvious strike, but the umpire called it a ball and the batter walked to first base. The ball rolled to the backstop. The next batter was up, he also walked. The pitcher was tired from all the walking back and forth between the pitcher and home plate, and by the time the next batter came up, Susan was back behind the plate, hoping she'd made her point. The pitch came and the batter swung connecting with the ball and sending it to center field. The fielder caught it on the bounce and threw it in to 2nd base. The runner was coming into home. Susan was positioned and the 2nd baseman threw it home. Susan caught the ball and tagged the runner as he slid into home. "Out!" the umpire cried and the players walked in to start the next inning.

As they were walking in the pitcher glanced at Susan and she held back to wait until he caught up with her, "I don't need you to play my position. You treat me with respect, and I'll return the favor, otherwise you'll be playing both positions by yourself."

"You've got yourself a feisty one there David," Wilson said, all three men having overheard her talk to the pitcher. "Not sure I'd want to cross her." House just smiled to himself. He'd seen several sides to Susan at this point, she was smart and full of energy, but at the same time she was venerable. There were even parts of her that had the lowest sense of self-esteem he'd ever seen. This side of Susan was strong and defiant. This was the side of her that he was most fond of, the stubborn fighter that wouldn't take no for an answer. He supposed that this was the side of her that got her through the tough times with Jeff, but she suffered emotionally as a result. She was the most complicated person he knew, aside from himself. Despite being the fighter she was, she had a lot of healing to do. He hoped that David was up for the challenge. He seemed a good man. David had gotten up and walked over to the dugout and was talking to Susan through the fence. His hand was touching hers through the fence and he was saying something to her. She smiled at him and then went back to the bench to sit down.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

After the game House and Wilson took off to some bar. David took Phillip to his grandparents for the evening and then came over to Susan's for dinner. He got there just as she had finished cleaning up from the game. She answered the door in her jeans and t-shirt, but her towel was still wrapped around her head drying her hair. He chuckled when he saw her and bent down to kiss her, "I've been waiting all afternoon to do that," he said. He pulled the towel off of her head and hand brushed her hair back over her head. "You are beautiful, you know that don't you?"

Susan just smirked and shook her head. "Funny," she said sarcastically. She went to the kitchen and pulled the pot roast out of the slow cooker.

David followed her, "How can I help?" he said.

Susan paused; no man had ever asked her how he could help her in the kitchen. She smiled, "Why don't you pull out a couple of tomatoes and slice them up for us." Susan took the drippings from the pot roast and placed them in a pan on the stove top and turned it on to boil. She got out a cup of beef broth, added a touch of milk and then several table spoons of corn starch. She mixed the ingredients together until the mixture was smooth. After the drippings were boiling, she added the broth mixture. It wasn't long until the gravy was thickened and she transferred it to a gravy boat.

"I never could get the hang of making gravy," David said.

"You have to dissolve the corn starch or flour in something cold first, like broth or milk, and then add it to your hot drippings. Otherwise, you get lumps," she explained.

David took the pot roast to the table and Susan followed behind with the potatoes and sliced tomatoes. She went back in the kitchen and pulled out some dinner rolls from the oven.

"Smells great," David said. His mouth was already watering. "Is your brother joining us," he asked as he went to the cabinet to get the plates."

"I don't think so, he and Wilson were headed somewhere after the game."

"Good," David said.

Susan just looked at him, "You know he's always welcome here."

"No, that's not what I meant. I actually like your brother for the most part, despite his attitude. I was just rather looking forward to being alone with you tonight," he explained.

They sat down at the table and reached across to hold hands. David asked the blessing and they started eating. After dinner, Susan got up to start cleaning. David helped her put the leftovers away and put the dishes in the dishwasher. When they were finished, they went in the front room. David had brought a movie with him and he set it up to watch and then sat down next to Susan on the sofa. He put his arm around her as she settled next to him. The movie started and Susan looked up at David, "A chick flick?"

David chuckled, "Thought you might like it."

"Well, I haven't seen many. Since I enjoy action movies, I never bothered to subject Jeff to a chick flick. Poor thing would have fallen asleep in the first minute."

They settled in to watch the movie. Sometime during the course of the movie David started caressing Susan's skin along her arm that was closest to him. Susan nestled in closer and rested her head on his shoulder. He tilted his head and placed gentle kisses along her neck and ear. Susan felt as if she had died and gone to heaven. She remembered the last time she had been in Jeff's arms. It was right after her dad had passed away and he had been unusually comforting to her. As she thought about it, as many difficult times as there were, the last couple of years were actually pretty good. Jeff had settled down quite a bit and became less difficult to live with; it was during that time when she realized how much she really did love him even if he wasn't very good at reciprocating. She pushed those thoughts away, these were David's arms wrapped around her, David's touches and David's kisses and as much as she cared for and missed Jeff, David had already shown her much more affection in just their few months together than Jeff did in 25 years of marriage. Susan tilted her head up toward David and he gently kissed her then settled back so she could watch the movie.

David laid his head back against the arm of the couch and snuggled Susan in closer. This was the closest he'd felt to anybody since Marie. She'd died when Phillip was just two after losing a battle with breast cancer and David had focused all his energy since then raising his son. Now that his son was nearing the teenage years, he didn't need quite as much daily care and David could begin to focus on his own needs a little more. He'd missed the closeness of a woman and now that he finally had Susan in his arms, he didn't want to lose her. He kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear while he contemplated how to move their relationship to the next level. He'd grown to love this woman and wanted her in his life. He felt her practically melt in his arms and take a deep breath as she closed her eyes, "Susan?"

"Mmmhmm."

"I want to make love to you," he said quietly.

Susan's eyes opened, her body stiffened and her breathing stopped for a moment, "_Oh no, not again"_ she thought to herself. After a moment of silence she said quietly, "We're not married David."

"I know, but I still want to," he said. "I love you and I want to show you how I feel. I want to feel you next to me. I want," he paused, "I want you." The last sentence he practically whispered it was so quiet.

Susan closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to hold back the tears. She couldn't go through that again. "We can't," Susan said quietly.

"OK," he said, kissed her lightly on her neck and laid his head back again. He'd screwed up, he knew it. He shouldn't have said anything. The mood had definitely shifted in the room. Susan was still next to him, but she was no longer relaxed and the temperature had definitely cooled. When the movie was over, Susan made moves to get up, but David held her arm, "I'm sorry," he said.

"It's OK. I'd rather you be honest," Susan said.

"I guess I should go now," he said.

"Yeah, it's getting late."

David got up to go to the door. Susan followed him to the door. He turned around and bent down to kiss her, but before he could, she reached up and kissed him gently on the cheek, "Good night."

"Good night," he replied and left her apartment.

Susan sighed and went to her room to get ready for bed. She had a lot of thinking to do.

David walked out to his car. He unlocked it, got in and closed the door. He slammed his fist down on the steering wheel. He had a good thing going with Susan and he didn't want to lose her, he had to figure out how to fix it.

MDMDMDMDMD

"_Susan, Susan." She was being shook, "Come on; wake up"_

"_What? What time is it?" Susan looked around trying to see the clock._

"_Doesn't matter; you need to wake up."_

"_Is something wrong, are you OK?"_

"_Everything is fine. Come on, open up – I want some."_

"_Want some what?"_

_He pushed her legs apart, "You know."_

"_Oh," Susan allowed access while he rolled on top of her. As he put himself in position, Susan braced herself for the discomfort that she knew was to follow. Fortunately, when he was like this he didn't last very long. He pushed himself inside and within two minutes was finished. He rolled off of her and turned away to go back to sleep. Susan turned on her side and pulled her legs into herself. Soon the burning sensation she was now experiencing would give away to itching that would last for several days. If she was lucky, she told herself, maybe this time she wouldn't get a bladder infection. Susan laid there trying to go back to sleep; but there was this persistent buzzing noise that wouldn't go away._

Susan woke up and turned off the alarm. She felt remnants of discomfort in her groin area from the memory of her dream. She thought about what she had just dreamed. Why did sex have to be so uncomfortable? Men were lucky; they got all the enjoyment and none of the side effects. It just wasn't fair. Well, she wasn't married so she didn't have to put out. If sex was all David was after, he'd just have to go look elsewhere. Susan got up to go to the bathroom. While she was in the shower, she thought about the evening before and the conclusion she had just come to. That wasn't fair; she had enjoyed her evening with David. She really liked him, maybe even loved him. He'd said he loved her, but she didn't know if he really loved her or if he was just saying that so she'd go to bed with him. He certainly had been acting like he cared for her. At the game he'd been ready to defend her when that pitcher was so condescending, but Greg had stopped him. Afterwards he was so supportive and told her how proud he was with the way she handled herself. Up to this point, he'd made no improper advances. She guessed he was just tired of waiting and decided to move things along. Maybe he just needed to know if she was easy; no, that wasn't it either. He knew her beliefs and so far he'd respected them. Susan finished her shower and dried off. When she left the bathroom, she had no more resolved the conflict in her mind than she had when she went in. She got dressed and left for church.

David woke up and stared at the ceiling. He hadn't decided how to handle this situation with Susan. All he knew was that he loved her and he wanted her in his life. He'd moved too fast and had scared her. He wondered why she was afraid. He'd never done anything to hurt her and he'd never forced anything on her. He remembered their first date when he'd asked if he could hold her hand and if he could kiss her goodnight. That kiss had felt so nice. Her lips were so tender and soft and she'd been so tentative at first and then she'd relaxed. Since then they had made-out quite a few times. It was always nice and David was doing everything he could to control himself and not touch her inappropriately. He knew her beliefs and really, they were his beliefs too – but he'd been married before and once you've swam in the ocean, it's hard to limit yourself to just wading on the beach. But so far, he'd held back and not done anything too forward. As he sat on the couch with Susan last night, he'd felt so at home and comfortable with her. He remembered the feel of her body pressed next to his. He could feel her breathing and her laughter during the more humorous parts of the movie. He'd kissed her and wanted to take it further. He wanted her. David felt his body responding to his thoughts; this wasn't doing him any good. He decided to get up and get dressed. Phillip would be getting up soon and would be hungry.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Susan walked into the hospital and headed toward the lab. She punched the button on the elevator and then thought again and turned around. She went through the clinic and walked straight into Dr. Cuddy's office. Dr. Cuddy was sitting at her desk and looked up when Susan walked in. "I really don't have time this morning, Susan," she said.

"Neither do I, and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to get bombarded with the entire residential population of another retirement village again today," Susan said.

"I'm sure House had his reasons….," Cuddy started.

"Don't even go there; I'm not stupid" Susan said. "I did you a favor and you didn't like that Greg took advantage of that favor. I don't even understand why you are upset; you got what you wanted. You played for a while and when you were done, you tossed him out. But while you were busy playing your games of control, your daughter ended up getting caught in the middle. You should have been happy that Greg tried to help Rachel find closure, instead of plotting your little act of revenge. You need to grow up." Susan turned and left the office.

Cuddy watched her leave. She was angry. She was angry at House for screwing up and taking the vicodin. She was angry at Susan for allowing House around Rachel, but she guessed she wouldn't be able to stop that anyway. For that matter, she wouldn't have put it past House to have arranged Marina's illness just so he could spend time with Rachel. Then she realized, that was probably exactly what had happened. Susan was right, she should be happy that House cared enough for Rachel to help her. She needed that closure herself for that matter. She picked up the phone and dialed House's number. As usual, he didn't answer, "House, please call me. We really need to talk."

MDMDMDMD

House walked in his office and looked at the caller id on his phone. He put it back in his pocket and tossed his backpack on the floor next to his desk. He turned his computer on and then went into the conference room to get a cup of coffee. Thirteen was sitting at the table reading a journal. "Where is the rest of the crew?" he asked.

"Chase and Foreman are looking for another case. I haven't seen either Taub or Susan this morning," she answered.

House looked at his watch, "Susan will be getting ready for class."

"You have a visitor," Thirteen informed him. House looked at her over his coffee cup and then toward his office and then back to her. "He's out on the balcony; been there for a while." House walked back in his office and looked out the door to his balcony; David. He opened the door and walked outside.

"Nice view from here," David said.

"Great place to annoy people from," House replied as he tossed a small wad of straw paper down on the head of a passerby. David smirked as the person reached up trying to figure what had hit his head.

"Never grew up past adolescence?"

"Didn't much see the point," House replied. "Why are you here?"

"I screwed up," David said.

"And you think I can fix it?" House asked.

"Probably not, but there isn't anybody else to talk to," David said.

"I'm not that kind of a friend; Wilson on the other hand," House left the rest of the sentence hanging.

"I suppose you're right," David said as he turned to leave the balcony through House's office.

Just as he was reaching for the door House said, "She's been through a lot David, give her time. Whatever you did, she'll realize at some point that you're different."

David nodded and walked back inside. House hopped the wall and walked into Wilson's office.

"What did David want?" Wilson asked when House walked in his balcony door.

"Reassurance."

"And he came to you?"

"Yeah, probably not his brightest moment," House replied.

"So, is everything OK?" Wilson asked.

"I'm sure it will be," House said as he sat on Wilson's couch. "Susan will work through whatever it is eventually. Heard the latest gossip on the new peds nurse?"

MDMDMDMD

Susan walked in the lab and put her purse away. She grabbed her backpack and headed to class. On the way to class, she ran into David.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered.

He walked with her toward class, "You doing anything tonight?"

"No," she answered.

"Do you want to go out to dinner? Phillip and I were planning on going out for Italian tonight if you'd like to join us."

Susan was still trying to work through her feelings, but agreed to meet them at the restaurant. She wasn't going to resolve anything sitting at home by herself. She'd been alone all day Sunday and still was unresolved.

The day went pretty much normal, thank goodness. Class went smoothly and when she came back to the lab, there wasn't a long line of senior citizens waiting for their blood to be drawn. Since House didn't have a patient, Susan spent the first part of the day doing her monthly maintenance and cleaning the laboratory. After lunch, she headed to the clinic as House was scheduled to work that afternoon.

"Hey Brenda, has Dr. House made it down here yet?" she asked when she walked into the clinic.

"You're kidding, right?" Brenda said. "He's probably hiding somewhere."

"You have somebody to cover the clinic this afternoon I guess or I'd be hearing pages," she said.

"Dr. Taub came down about a half hour ago, so we're covered," Brenda explained.

"OK, I guess I'll go back to the lab. Do me a favor and call me if he shows up."

"Fat chance of that happening, but sure," Brenda said as she turned back to her computer.

When Susan returned to her lab, the message light on her phone was flashing. She picked up her phone and accessed her voice mail. It was Dr. Riggin from research wondering if she would have time to run chemistry tests on some blood from his lab rats. Susan had utilized the research labs enough for the more obscure tests she needed to run for Dr. House's patients that she had become known among the research scientists. Having the research background she had, they had become comfortable to call on her if they needed standard tests run. Susan didn't mind doing it as it added some variety to what she normally did in the lab. She also made it her practice to go to as many seminars as possible so she could keep up with the latest developments. She'd never met Dr. Riggin. He'd just recently come to Princeton and was working under an NIH grant to study muscle regeneration. She'd heard about him from some of the other researchers and was intrigued, especially since her brother could benefit if the research panned out. Of course, the study was just in its infancy, but it was looking promising from all she'd heard. She headed over to the research department to see what Dr. Riggin needed done.

She poked her head into the lab and saw him in the back of the room examining one of his rats. She walked in, "Dr. Riggin?" He turned and looked toward her. "I'm Susan Watkins, you called and left a message saying you needed some chemistry work done on your rats."

Dr. Riggin put the rat back in its cage and went to the sink to wash his hands. "Yes, thank you for coming so quickly. I have the specimens in the fridge." He escorted her over to the refrigerator and pulled out a tray of microcentrifuge tubes filled with the rat serum. He showed her how they were labeled and stressed the importance of keeping everything straight.

"There isn't a lot of material here," Susan said. "What all are you wanting tested?"

"I really need to watch their liver enzyme levels as well as their CRP levels for inflammation."

"This is really going to be tough with this small amount of material, but I'll do my best for you," Susan said. "How often are you going to be drawing blood from your animals?"

Dr. Riggin explained his research protocol to Susan and concluded his explanation with a copy of his preliminary research report he had written when he applied for the NIH grant. Susan took the paper and the specimens with her. When she got back to the lab, she put the specimens in the refrigerator and slipped the research paper in her bag to take home. She would read the paper tonight so she would have a full understanding of the project and would start the testing tomorrow.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant. She could see that David and Phillip had already arrived as his car was sitting across the lot from hers. She went inside and quickly found them sitting in the waiting area. Phillip was holding a pager that would flash and vibrate when their table was ready.

"Hey," she said when she walked up. David scooted over and Susan sat down beside them. Phillip turned toward Susan, "I made a homerun at our game tonight," he said with some excitement.

"That's great!" Susan said. "Tell me about it."

Phillip started telling her about his homerun and Susan listened with full attention. David sat back and smiled at them. The two got along so well together which to him was an added blessing. He'd been half afraid that she wouldn't show up for dinner tonight. He hoped that this was a good sign that all was well. He'd half to handle things carefully or everything would fall apart. As he listened to the two talk, he thought about Marie and what she would think about Susan. She had told him that he shouldn't wait too long before he found somebody. He was young and there was no need to remain single after she was gone. He'd tried to steer her away from the conversation. He didn't want to think about it at the time. She'd been a source of joy in his life and it was all he could do to keep going after she was gone. Phillip had been his saving motivation. But the past was past and now he was moving on. He'd been on a few dates before he met Susan, but since she had come into his life, he just couldn't see himself with anybody else.

"Dad…..Dad!" Philiip said.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking. What is it son?" David asked. Phillip held up the flashing pager. "Oh, ok," he said getting up. The hostess led them to their table, handed them the menus and left them alone. Soon the waitress arrived taking their drink orders and allowing them more time to peruse the menu. Phillips graduated toward the pizzas, but Susan had pizza just a few days prior so she started looking through the various pasta dishes. She finally settled on an Alfredo dish with a side salad and David chose Chicken Parmesan. The waitress returned with their drinks and to take their order. After their orders were taken, Susan told the waitress that she would be ordering a to-go meal later. The waitress promised to return in plenty of time to take the order so that it would be ready when they were ready to leave.

"Why are you ordering an extra meal?" David asked.

"Greg's been coming over a lot recently. I want to have something for him just in case he shows up again tonight." Susan explained.

"So he's not avoiding you anymore," David observed.

"No," Susan said.

"So how has work been going?" David asked.

Susan told him about the series retirement village patients she'd had over the last week, but that suddenly today there hadn't been any. "So what was the difference?" David asked.

"I went to visit Dr. Cuddy and told her to grow up," Susan answered.

"You told Dr. Cuddy to grow up?" David repeated in astonishment. "How'd you get away with that?"

"She was using the seniors as a revenge tactic for me allowing Greg to spend some time with Rachel last week," Susan said. "When she learned that I knew it was her, she stopped. I hope the games are over now."

"Sounds like they probably are," David said. "How is class going?"

Susan updated him on the status of the class letting him know that they were completely caught up to where they should be and she was working on winding things down for the end of the semester. "They should be fully ready for the next course in the sequence," she said at the end of her dissertation.

"That's great," David said feeling much better now that they were actually talking again. It's not like he really wanted to talk about work, but he needed to start somewhere and that was a convenient topic and one that he needed updated on anyway for the next departmental meeting.

"Susan?" Phillip asked. Susan looked his direction, "If you and dad get married, will I have to call you mom?"

"Phillip!" David said.

Susan laughed, "It's OK David. Phillip, _If_, your dad and I were to get married, I would let you call me whatever you like. I'm not your mom and I would never try to replace her," Susan explained. "But I wouldn't be opposed to you calling me mom either. At the moment however, it's a moot point."

"What does moot mean?" Phillip asked.

"It means that at the moment it doesn't matter," David explained his face a shade of red that Susan hadn't yet seen on him and was thoroughly enjoying.

The waitress brought their meals and then took the order from Susan for Greg's to go meal. The three started eating their meal with Phillip shifting his conversation back and forth between school and baseball. Soon the meal was over and the waitress bought the check. Susan pulled out her wallet, but David stopped her, "I've got it."

"I need to pay for Greg's at the very least," Susan protested.

"No, really; let me," David said.

Susan put her wallet back in her purse. David paid the check and then they got up to leave. As they left the restaurant, David told Phillip to get in the car that he was going to walk Susan to hers. Phillip got in the car and shut the door. David remotely locked the door behind him and walked Susan to hers. When they got to her car, he touched her arm. She turned toward him and he put each hand just above her elbow. "Susan, I'm sorry," he said.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Susan replied.

"Are we OK?" David asked.

"Yes," Susan said.

David smiled, "May I kiss you goodnight?"

Susan nodded and David bent down to kiss her.

Phillip watched his dad from the side mirror. He was saying something to Susan and then he bent down to kiss her. Phillip watched with rapt attention as his father wrapped his arms around Susan and held her close as he kissed her. Finally he tired of watching and he reached over and honked the horn.

Susan pulled away and laughed, "I think someone is getting impatient."

"Sounds like it," David said with a smile. "Can we see each other tomorrow evening?"

"Your place or mine?" Susan asked.

"Mine if that's OK. It's a school night and I don't want to leave Phillip at his Grandparent's on a weeknight," he explained.

"That's fine," Susan said.

David leaned down and gave Susan a quick kiss on her cheek and whispered in her ear, then went to his car. He unlocked the door and got in. He watched Susan leave before he pulled out and followed behind until it was time to turn toward home.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Did you kiss mom like that?"

"Yes,"

Phillip was quiet for a few moments. "Do you have to kiss like that every time?"

"Well no, different occasions call for different kinds of kisses. Is there someone you want to kiss?" David asked.

"No!" Phillip quickly said. "I was just thinking." He went silent for a moment, "Is it fun?" he asked.

David smiled to himself. He was glad that Phillip was comfortable talking with him about these things. It was better to learn from him than from his buddies at school. "Well, if it wasn't fun people wouldn't do it, but it's not something you should just go up to a girl and do."

"How old were you when you first kissed a girl?"

"Fourteen"

Relief washed over his face, "Oh good."

"Why?"

"Kevin said that if I hadn't kissed a girl yet that I wasn't normal," Phillip explained.

"A lot of kids brag about things they haven't done before to make themselves look cool to the other kids. I doubt very seriously that Kevin has kissed any girl other than his mom and that's not the same thing." David told Phillip. "He's just trying to make himself look better than the rest of the guys."

"Did I kiss mom?" Phillip asked.

"In your own way," Davis smiled at the memory. "At that age your kisses were more like open mouth slobbery cheek messes, but she enjoyed them. You hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet."

Phillip sobered and looked out the window, "Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"I can't remember mom," he said quietly.

"I would be surprised if you did," David said. "Son, you were only two years old when she died. Nobody expects you to remember anything from that age. I don't want you to worry about it, it's OK. You loved her and always wanted her to hold you and she loved you very much. She cherished every moment with you until the day she died. You were the light of her life."

MDMDMDMD

Susan walked in her apartment. House was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table. She walked by and handed him the carry-out and went through to the kitchen. House opened the container and the package of bread sticks. He took out a breadstick and started eating it when Susan returned with a fork, soft drink and a napkin for him. He started eating without saying anything, keeping focused on the television program in front of him. Susan went back to her room and changed into some sweats and a t-shirt and came back into the living room and sat down on the chair next to the end of the couch where House was sitting. He'd finished his meal and put the container on the coffee table. After a few moments, he got up and grabbed the trash and took it into the kitchen and headed back to his room. He emerged a few moments later in his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and sat back down. "How'd you know I'd be here when you came home?" he asked.

"I didn't," Susan answered.

"But you brought me something to eat anyway," House said.

"Of course."

House pondered on that a while. He'd never met anybody as caring as Susan with no hidden agenda. What was it that made her different? He knew it wasn't just because she was his sister. He'd seen her acts of generosity numerous times since she'd come to PPTH. David was a lucky man. "Did you and David work out your issue?"

"We didn't have an issue," Susan said.

"That's not what David said," House answered.

"When did David talk to you?" Susan asked.

"This morning; well, at least he came by the office – there wasn't a lot of talking. He seemed worried."

"Oh, well that was my fault," Susan said. "He told me something that I wasn't ready to deal with, but it's OK. There never was really any issue to resolve."

"So are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Ready to deal with whatever it is he told you."

"Not really, no," Susan said, "but I'm working my way through it."

"Is it something you want to talk about?" House offered.

"Not really," Susan said.

"Good," House settled back to watch the television.

After a while Susan said, "He said he loved me."

"I thought you didn't want to talk about it," House said.

"I don't," Susan said, and then settled in to watch television. After a while she spoke, "He's told me twice now, but I didn't believe him the first time."

"But now you do," House said. Susan nodded. "What's the difference?" House asked.

"The first time he said in conjunction with something else."

"And what would that be?" House asked.

"He said he wanted sex," Susan said.

"And you don't."

"Brought back a lot of painful memories; I don't want to make the same mistakes I made before. I can't go through that again."

"And this time?" House asked.

"There weren't any strings attached," Susan replied.

"So now you believe him," House said. Susan nodded. "Do you love him?"

"I don't know, I think so," Susan said with a sigh. "It feels different."

"Different?" House asked.

"I don't recognize it, it doesn't feel the same as it did before," Susan said. "It makes me uncomfortable; off balance maybe."

House smiled to himself, he remembered that feeling. Still felt it really despite everything he was doing to try to push those feelings away. Suddenly the pain of what he had lost came rushing down all at once. He tried to stuff it back, but it hit him full force. He kept his face toward the television, but a tear came unbidden and found its way down his cheek.

Susan saw movement out of the corner of her eye as House wiped the tear off his cheek. She kept her face forward not wanting to embarrass him. House put his hand down on the arm of the couch instead of back in his lap – an open invitation. Susan reached over and held his hand in silent support, never acknowledging his emotion.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Susan pulled out the paper she had put in her bag from Dr. Riggin's research and began reading. The paper was long and full of supporting data. It was interesting and if the compound worked out, it might be something useful for Greg. There was a lot of research to be done before it was ready though. Maybe by the time it hit Phase II trials, Greg could participate in the study. Susan put the paper back in her bag and walked over to the refrigerator to get the samples. She pulled out the tray; there were 25 rats in the study. She set up her instrument for the tests Dr. Riggin requested. These were very small samples, so she had to make a dilution in order for the instrument to have the necessary volume. Working in the clinical lab, she didn't have a laboratory notebook to make notes, so she had stopped by the supply closet in administration on her way to the lab this morning to pick up a spiral notebook. It wasn't a perfect substitute, but it would have to do for now. She started formatting the notebook as if it was for a GLP study so that should Dr. Riggin need to see her notes, that everything would be clear. She created a line for each sample and wrote down the calculations for her dilutions and made careful notations. Once she was finished with the dilutions, she put the samples on the instrument. He had requested tests for liver enzymes and inflammation. The liver enzymes would run fairly quickly, but the inflammation marker would run a bit slower. Altogether, the samples should take the better part of the day to run.

Susan was getting ready to leave for lunch when her phone rang. It was the main lab asking if she could come down and help in chemistry. She agreed and went to the main lab. There had been a health screening conducted at one of the local manufacturing facilities and the hospital lab was inundated with 400 specimens over and above their normal patient load. Susan set to work on the health screening samples while the rest of the techs worked on their normal patient load.

Five hours later and she was finished in the main lab and went back to her own. The rat specimens were complete with their reports sitting on top of her instrument. She sat down to go through them and realized it was after 5pm. She called David, "Hey, I'm going to be stuck here for a while yet, do you still want me to come over?" David said that of course he did, but that he needed to go ahead and make sure Phillip had his dinner if she was going to be a while.

Susan hung up the phone and started processing the reports for Dr. Riggin. She calculated the values based upon the dilutions she had made and wrote them up in her lab/spiral notebook. Before she headed to the research wing, she took the time to clean up the mess from the rat specimens and put the remaining material in the refrigerator. She picked up her bag and her notebook, stopped by administration to make copies of her notebook pages and then put the notebook in her bag.

Susan poked her head into Dr. Riggins lab, "Dr. Riggin?"

"In here?" he called from his office. Typical of researchers, his office was a mess of piles of papers, journals, half-full coffee cups. Susan grinned with the familiar appearance. "Susan, great to see you; I assume you have results for me."

Susan handed over the final report page that she had prepared with all the final concentrations and the copies from her notebook of the calculations. In a separate file folder, she handed him all the raw data results that printed off of the chemistry analyzer. "Wow, you really went out of your way to get this organized. Thank you," he said.

Susan smiled, "I have a few years of research experience. I know how to keep data organized for easy retrieval. Of course, I have copies of everything in my lab should you need them again."

"With my office, it's highly likely. Thank you. Actually, tomorrow I'm going to be pulling another set of specimens, if you would like to drop by around 4 in the afternoon I'll have them ready for you," he said.

Susan agreed and then took her leave. Susan went home to change and fix a quick sandwich. She hadn't had anything to eat all day and she was starving. Greg wasn't there so he must have gone out with Wilson or decided to go back to his own apartment. Actually she hadn't seen him all day, but she wasn't worried this time. He'd shown that he would come to her when he needed to and he was probably still a little embarrassed about the show of emotion he had the previous night. Soon she was headed over to David's.

David opened the door and smiled when he saw Susan, "You made it."

"Yes and I'm sorry it's so late," Susan said looking at her watch.

"It's not that late, come on in," he said. He led Susan into the living room where Phillip was sprawled out on the floor working on his homework. "Can I get you something to eat?"

"No, I grabbed a sandwich when I went to the house to change," she said.

David sat down beside her and they watched television together while Phillip finished his homework. After several minutes he said, "It's a nice evening outside, do you want to go for a walk?"

"Honestly, no," Susan said. "I've spent all day on my feet. I'd rather just sit if that's OK." David nodded, but Susan could sense his disappointment. It occurred to her that he wanted to be alone with her and he didn't want to send Phillip to bed at 8:00. He was a little old for such an early bedtime, "Why don't we go sit on your porch swing in the back yard? It is a nice evening; it'd be a shame to waste it sitting inside."

David stood up and gave Susan his hand to help her up, "Phillip, when you're finished with your homework, get your shower taken and get to bed."

"Yeah, yeah," Phillip said, "like I don't know that already."

David led Susan out the back door, stopping along the way to get both of them a glass of iced tea. When they got outside, they sat in the swing. David put his arm over Susan's shoulder and she leaned back into him. "You have a lovely water garden," she said after a while.

"It was Marie's," he said. "She put a lot of time and effort into the garden setting up the waterfall and planting the lilies. It's mesmerizing to sit out here and watch the water. A person can waste the afternoon away just sitting here. I've done my best to keep it up, but it's not nearly as nice as it was."

"I had a water garden back in Texas, but it was hard to keep it up with everything else," Susan said. "I wouldn't mind making another one sometime when I have more time."

"Maybe that's something we could do together," David suggested.

"Perhaps," Susan said.

Phillip stuck his head out the door, "I'm finished with my homework dad. I'm headed to the shower. Do you want me to come back down before I go to bed?"

"No, that's alright," David said. "Sleep well."

Phillip went back inside.

They sat for some time watching the water fall and the fish in the pond prey on the bugs that landed on the water's surface. "Susan, what happened the other night at your place? Why did you suddenly get so upset?"

Susan sighed, "I wasn't upset, you just scared me a little."

"I'm sorry."

"I told you that you didn't have anything to apologize for," Susan said.

"I know, but I don't want to scare you. I want to understand what happened, I don't want to lose you Susan. I love you."

"You're not in any danger of losing me," Susan said. "I just have a lot of things to work through."

"Please tell me," David said quietly.

"David, I didn't have the best marriage. Don't get me wrong, I loved Jeff very much, but we had our issues and I don't want to repeat the same mistakes," Susan said. "When you said that you wanted to have sex, I was afraid that history was repeating itself. I don't want my relationship with you to be like it was with Jeff."

"Susan, I didn't say I wanted to have sex, I said I wanted to make love to you," David explained.

"Same thing," Susan said.

"No, there is a distinct difference," David said. "I wasn't interested in using you for my own pleasure; I wanted to make love to you." Susan was quiet while she thought about what he said. "What are you thinking?" David asked after a moment.

"I have an issue with sex outside of marriage," Susan said.

"I know, and really I do too. I shouldn't have brought it up; I was just telling you how I feel. It's OK. I don't have to make love to you to show you how I feel." David pulled her in a little closer and kissed her on the side of her head.

They sat quietly together just enjoying each other's company when Susan asked, "What are _you_ thinking?"

"I have this overwhelming desire to kiss you." David said and then leaned down to do just that. Susan accepted his advance and leaned into him meeting him partway. David kissed her as tenderly as possible. He may not be able to make love to her in the traditional sense, but he could show her how much he loved her this way. He brought his arms around her waist and rubbed his hands down her back. He broke this kiss and moved his lips along her chin to her neck finding the sensitive area on her neck that he had discovered some time ago. Susan's breath became more rapid as David continued to kiss her neck and moved up toward her ear. He broke off and looked into her eyes and smiled. Susan was breathless and leaned back on his shoulder as David leaned back on the swing again. Neither spoke for some time, watching the water run down the waterfall. A bird flew in and used the waterfall as a bird bath and flew away.

"David?"

"mmmhmm?"

"I love you too."

David pulled her tighter into himself. He hadn't wanted to pressure her, but he'd been waiting to hear those words from her and now that he had, he felt a sense of relief.

She lifted her head toward him, "Kiss me again."

David obliged her desire and gently kissed her, his hand running down her back down toward her waist. Unknowingly, Susan's shirt had worked its way up slightly so that when his hand moved toward her waist, he came in contact with her skin. The touch was electric for both of them. Susan moaned and David deepened the kiss. The skin to skin contact between his hand and her waist almost had a narcotic effect. There was an immediate desire for more and David moved his hand so that there was more contact with her skin. He moved his hand around her body to her side and worked its way upwards over her ribs, his thumb just touching her undergarments. He broke off from her mouth and moved to her neck, he could feel Susan trembling under his touch, "Are you OK? Is this alright?"

Susan nodded slightly and leaned her head back so he could access her neck easier. Her breath was rapid and shallow as he held her tenderly. Susan had remained fairly motionless during this exchange, but now tentatively moved her right arm toward David resting her hand on his waist. She could feel his bare hand on her side with his thumb just brushing the underside of her breast. Her heart beat faster with each moment; she reached her hand under his shirt to touch him without the barrier of cloth between them. Another electric jolt went through the both of them with the new contact and the cloud of temptation hanging over the both of them dipped lower threatening to envelope them in the heat of passion.

David's conscious mind told him that he had pushed this as far as he should but his carnal mind was pushing him further. Susan's physical responses to his touch urged him further onward. He was fully aroused at this point and his nerve endings under Susan's hand were on fire begging for more contact. He pulled Susan tighter toward him and as he did his hand shifted upwards so that his hand covered more of her breast.

Susan's heart beat even faster as endorphins surged through her body. She leaned into his touch all the while telling herself that they shouldn't be doing this. At the same time, David's caresses were awakening physical responses that had long since gone dormant. Her nerve endings were ultra sensitive and each touch brought new sensations. She was fighting a battle between her conscious mind and the desires that were being awakened. The cloud dropped lower.

David's breath shuddered with desire; he pulled away and looked into Susan's eyes. "Susan, I…"

Susan was trembling half with fear, the other half with desire. David pulled away and her desire took over, she wanted that contact, "No, don't go," she whispered.

At that moment, all their conscious thoughts fell into the background still screaming for attention, but muffled by the desire each had for the other and the cloud of temptation enveloped them.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

David stood up and held out his left hand toward Susan. She took it and stood. He wrapped his right arm around her and guided her to his room. He closed the door behind them and led her to the foot of his bed. No longer burdened by his conscious mind, he unbuttoned her shirt, moved it off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. He kissed her shoulders and wrapped his hand around her back, unhooking her undergarment and removed it over her arms. It fell on top of the shirt. David sat down on the edge of the bed kissing and touching every part that he had just exposed, "So beautiful," he said softly. He unfastened Susan's pants and guided them to the floor his hands caressing down along the curves of her body, "So beautiful." Susan was before him and she was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He stood and led her to the side of the bed. He picked her up and gently laid her down, his eyes taking in the beauty before him. He stood over her as he removed his clothing and when he stood before her, he looked into her eyes. He saw the fear in her eyes, but she made no move to stop him. He lay down beside her to calm her and let her know he wasn't going to hurt her. He caressed her body and spoke to her softly, "So sweet, so beautiful." He kissed her and gently massaged her body slowly working his way toward her most intimate places.

Susan lay on the bed watching David undress. She was trembling. She was afraid, but she was also longing for his touch. He lay beside her and whispered in her ear. He touched her. She felt his hand move along her bare skin. He kissed her body making every nerve ending stand on end. Susan gasped as she felt him touch her more intimately. Her body was on fire with sensations she had no memory of – everything felt new. Her body screamed for more, her conscience quelled. She heard sounds, her own voice being the source of those sounds. Her body stiffened and pushed upwards as she reached for the rails on the headboard gripping them as tightly as she could.

David felt Susan's body reach out; he knew she was ready for him. He covered her with his own, his conscience made one last attempt to get through to him, "AT LEAST ASK HER!" it screamed. "Are you ready for me sweetheart?" he asked.

Susan swallowed hard and nodded. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the discomfort she was about…her eyes opened wide in surprise; no pain, no discomfort, just a gentle pleasant pressure. Susan relaxed her body and closed her eyes. No pain, no discomfort.

David felt her relax and began moving his body into a gentle rhythm.

Susan instinctively matched David's movements. Pressure started building as her own tissues swelled around him. His movements increased in intensity. Susan felt her body start to stiffen again and push itself further into him. Suddenly the sensations became even more intense as David shifted himself and used his hand to touch her where they were joined. She felt the pressure building inside of her, she was going to explode. The movements became faster and stronger; she tightened her hands around the rails as her muscles contracted. Susan cried out softly as everything inside her erupted; David joining her in chorus. He collapsed on top of her and rolled off.

Susan lay staring at the ceiling, her breath rapid and shallow. Her heart was pounding so loudly she was sure Phillip could hear it in his room upstairs. She shivered, the cool air hitting the sheen of sweat glistening over her body. David reached down to the sheets and covered their bodies then wrapped his arm around her. He watched her as her breath slowed. Her eyes were staring toward the ceiling, shifting focus as if she was processing through the file cabinet of her mind. He felt he could literally see the wheels turning in her head. He remained silent as she processed her thoughts while lightly brushing his hand along her arm and occasionally kissing her cheek and ear.

Susan's breathing slowed as her body came to rest. Her mind however was firing in all directions. She recounted the years, the memories of time past, of Jeff, of the discomfort, of "if you'd just get into it more, you'd enjoy it" and "if you're not enjoying it, it's your own fault. Nobody else ever complained." Susan hadn't done anything different and yet, it was _all_ different. _No discomfort, no pain_. It felt good, it felt more than good, and it was indescribable. It wasn't her fault after all. _It wasn't her fault!_ Susan closed her eyes pushing a single tear out the side.

David saw the tear; he kissed it away not knowing all the emotions behind that single tear. Susan turned her head to look at him. She turned on her side and buried herself in his chest wrapping her arm around him as tight as possible. _Twenty-five years, I've missed 25 years. Didn't he love me?_

David held her. He heard a noise and realized she was crying, "Susan, are you OK? Did I hurt you? Susan, I don't want to hurt you." Susan shook her head, but the crying turned to sobs and she held him as tight as she could. David didn't understand the emotion; she said he hadn't hurt her. He didn't know what to do, so he just held her until she calmed down.

Slowly Susan calmed. She pulled her head away from his chest, "I'm sorry."

David reached behind him on the bedside table, pulled a tissue from the box and handed it to her, "You don't have anything to be sorry for," he said quietly as he watched her wipe the moisture from her face. He ran his fingers down the side of her face, "Will you tell me why you were crying?"

"I don't know," Susan said. "I guess there was too much emotion and then when you told me you didn't want to hurt me, I fell apart."

David was confused, "I don't understand. Did Jeff hurt you?"

"Every time," Susan answered softly looking down in shame. "He didn't mean to, it just hurt. I tried to tell him in the beginning, but he wouldn't listen and said if I wasn't enjoying it that something was wrong with me and eventually I just stopped saying anything and dealt with it."

David frowned, "Susan, if I ever hurt you I want you to tell me. Okay? I promise I'll always listen." Susan nodded. David put his finger under her chin and lifted her head so he could look in her eyes, "I mean it, no secrets. I never want to hurt you, I love you too much." Susan nodded.

She wrapped her arms around him again and he held her close, "I love you too."

David held Susan to him. Her head was beneath his chin and he stared out toward the wall. This woman had been married for 25 years to a man that had _never_ made love to her. Was he so selfish that he didn't care if he hurt her as long as he got what he needed? What man doesn't want to see his wife reach that pinnacle of satisfaction and know that he brought her there? And Susan? She just accepted that behavior as normal. Did she blame herself? Did she think something was wrong with her? What kind of bastard would do that to his wife? David was angry. He would show Susan what it was to be loved, to be cared for. He was going to take care of her. Never would she have to go through that again. She deserved better.

Susan pulled back and looked at David, "What are you thinking?" she asked. David shook his head, not wanting to answer. "No secrets, remember?"

"I was just thinking that you must be some kind of woman to put up with that for 25 years," he paraphrased.

"I didn't know any different," she paused, kissing him on the chin, "now I do." She moved her hand over David's body in her own exploration. She traced along his chest, running her hand through the hair on his chest and over his body. "I heard the other women at work talk about how good their lovers were. Always figured they were just trying to impress each other. I never thought…" Susan's voice trailed off as her exploration found something to focus on. David groaned as his body responded to her touch. He tilted his head down to kiss her. He rolled her onto her back and as he knew her again, he whispered in her hear, "Sweetheart, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

Susan woke drenched in sweat, she tried sit up and couldn't. David was spooned up against her with his arm wrapped tight around her. No wonder she was so hot. She had to move, so she gently lifted David's arm and slipped out from underneath. She sat up on the edge of the bed to cool down and realized that she was also a little nauseous. As she became more aware of herself, she felt that telltale sign that told her that her menses would arrive in the next couple of hours which also explained the hot flash. She didn't have anything to take care of that here and if she didn't get some ibuprofen down her and a heating pad she was going to be doubled over most of the day. She looked at the clock, it was just 12:30, not really all that late considering. There'd been a lot of activity in just the four hours since Phillip had said goodnight. _A lot of activity_, she smiled as she looked over at David and then it hit her full what she had done and the smile left her face. _Oh no! I did it again_, she thought. _Of all the stupid teenager-ish things to do and on top of that dumb stunt they hadn't used any protection. What was she thinking?_ Her first menstrual cramp hit her and the ache started spreading. _Well, at least I know I'm not pregnant_, Susan thought. _I need to go_, she thought. She walked around the bed to the night stand on David's side of the bed and wrote a note so he wouldn't think she ran out on him. At least if she was gone, David wouldn't be trying to explain her presence to Phillip when he woke up. She put the note on her pillow and dressed quietly.

Susan walked in the door to her apartment. House's bike was parked outside, but he wasn't in the front room. His door was closed as she passed by on her way to the bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet and found the ibuprofen. She swallowed them dry and then took care of her personal hygiene. Next on the agenda was the heating pad, she looked for it under the sink where she kept it, it wasn't there. She looked in all the cabinets, all the while the pain levels were increasing. Where had she put it? Maybe it was in Laura's room. She walked across the hall and opened Laura's door. She looked in the closet and all the drawers, it was gone. Susan took a deep breath; it was going to be a long night until the ibuprofen kicked in to take the edge off, "Looking for this?"

It was Greg and he was holding the heating pad. "Yes, where was it?"

"I had it," he said handing it to her.

Susan didn't reach for it, "It's OK, you can use it."

"I'm finished with it. I had a leg cramp, but it's gone now," he said putting it in her hand. "How many ibuprofen did you take?" he asked.

"Two," she answered.

"Take another one, it's OK," he said and went back to bed.

Susan did as he said and went to bed with the heating pad providing the warmth that would ease the pain. Two hours later, she was awake. The cramping was still there, but at least it had edged off some, the ibuprofen starting to do its job. She was still nauseous and her internal thermostat was still fluctuating some, but it wasn't overwhelming. She thought about the evening before with David. She'd fallen into temptation and sinned. It was wrong and she knew it was wrong, but the weird thing was that she didn't have this overwhelming sense of guilt as she should. Why? Always before when she transgressed about anything, she felt guilty. This made no sense to her and she began to doubt her faith. What kind of person of faith was she if she picked and chose what to feel guilty about? She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. She managed to just fall asleep when her alarm went off.

MDMDMDMD

Sunshine beat through the window of the bedroom hitting David across the face waking him up. He squinted his eyes against the light and turned toward Susan, she wasn't there. David sat up, where was she? He looked toward the bathroom; the door was open and the light was off. He sighed and looked to her side of the bed and saw her note sitting on her pillow. He picked it up "went home m, talk later", _home m?_ He wondered what that meant. She wanted to talk later, did she regret what happened? _Of course she did_, what they did was against her beliefs. He knew that, why did he let himself get into that state – especially after her reaction when he had brought it up last week. He should have stayed in control. _I'm an idiot. _He could only hope this didn't jeopardize their relationship.

House woke up and stumbled out of his room toward the kitchen. Susan had already left for work, but had made coffee for him. There was also a breakfast sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil sitting on the cabinet next to the coffee pot. House picked up the sandwich and grabbed a cup of coffee and went over to the kitchen table and sat down. Susan's Bible was sitting open on the table. House pulled it over toward him, it was opened to 2nd Corinthians 12. House knew the Bible better than most people of faith, so he knew what Susan was reading about without even looking at the passages. He smiled to himself, he'd thought so last night, but he didn't ask. The only problem now was that she'd be beating herself up about it.

Susan had finished up class and was gathering the exams the students had just completed when David walked into the classroom, "Hey," he said.

Susan looked up at him and gave him half a smile, "Hey."

David smiled with relief when he saw her smile, "You left during the night."

"Yeah, I needed to go and besides, you didn't need to have to explain my presence to Phillip this morning," Susan explained.

"I'm not ashamed of you," David said. "Quite the contrary."

"But you're teaching your son that abstinence is the best policy which my walking out of your bedroom would fly in the face of that," Susan said.

"Hadn't thought of that," he said.

"We weren't thinking at all," Susan said. She started walking out the room with David following her behind. He came up beside her and she continued, "We really need to talk about this, but this isn't the place. Can you come to my place tomorrow evening?

"How about tonight?" David asked wanting to get everything out in the open right away.

"No, not tonight. I'll be working late tonight and I still need to work through some things on my own," Susan grimaced and started walking at a rather fast pace.

"Susan, stop for a minute" David grabbed her elbow and stopped her. She turned to him, "Are you, I mean, are we OK?"

"Probably," Susan said and turned to continue to the lab.

"Probably?" David asked catching back up to her.

Susan stopped again and sighed with exasperation, "Okay. Yes, we're fine. Look David, I don't feel well today and I didn't get much sleep on top of that. I have all these exams to grade and some research work to do this afternoon and on top of all that, I have to deal with our stupid stunt so I'm really not in the best mood right now. We'll talk tomorrow." Susan continued on her way leaving David staring at her back having no clue as to what just happened.

Susan walked back in her lab and dropped the papers on her desk. She went around, sat down and started fishing through her desk drawers. "You look like crap," a voice behind her said. "What are you looking for?"

"Drugs," Susan said, "and thanks for the compliment."

"Just making an observation," House said. "You always cramp this bad?"

"Yes," Susan said, "if I don't catch it before the worse of the cramps start, which I didn't because I stayed too long at David's last night."

"You're not always this bitchy either," House observed.

"Yeah, well I feel like crap warmed over," Susan said shaking three ibuprofen tablets out of the bottle she'd just found and swallowing them dry.

"Do you need to go home?" House asked.

Susan glared at him, "I've got too much work to do."

"Right," House said some sarcasm and walked out the door. He'd wanted to check on her to gauge her guilt level. It was pretty high. True, she wasn't feeling well because of her menses, but this was way more attitude than what she normally had this time of the month. He decided he'd stay at her place again tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Susan finally walked in the door of her apartment at 7:30. She'd spent all afternoon grading exams and catching up the students' grades on the University's D2L system. At four she'd gone down to research and picked up the rat serum specimens and spent the evening running the tests that Dr. Riggin needed. She decided to write them up the next morning because she just couldn't stand the thought of staying any longer. When she pulled in her driveway, she saw Greg's car and was actually a little disappointed. She loved her brother, but she needed some space tonight. She just wasn't up to fixing a decent meal and entertaining. She had a lot to think about. She was tempted to tell him to go to his own apartment tonight, but she couldn't do that. If he was here, he still needed her and she'd be there for him, although she probably wasn't the best company tonight. Those thoughts quickly left Susan's mind when she walked in the door. Something was cooking and it smelled wonderful. She put down her bag and followed her nose to the kitchen where House complete in an apron was putting the finishing touches on dinner. Susan was a bit taken aback as he had never cooked for her before, but she hid her surprise and asked, "What's for dinner?"

"It's a surprise, go get cleaned up. It'll be ready in a few minutes."

Susan went in her room and got out of her work clothes and into something more comfortable. She walked back in the kitchen, "How can I help?" she asked.

"By sitting down at the table," He looked at her, "I've got it tonight. You just relax."

Susan lifted her eyebrows and did as she was told. House brought over a bowl of some soup Susan had never seen and set it in front of her. She tasted it, it was good. She had no idea what it was, but it was really good. While she tasted it, he brought over the main course and set it in front of the bowl. Then he set up his own place setting and sat down across from her. Susan started to eat, but stopped short when she saw House staring at her. "Don't you usually ask the blessing before you eat?" he asked.

"Not much point, my prayers wouldn't make it past the ceiling today," she said.

"_Bingo_," he thought. "Well you should say them anyway," he said.

"Why? So you can ridicule me again?" she asked immediately regretting it. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

House grabbed her hands and nodded at her. Susan asked the blessing for all the good it did and they began to eat. "This is really good," she said. "What's the occasion?"

"Just returning the favor," House said. "You've fixed a lot of meals for me since you've come to New Jersey."

"You don't return favors," Susan said.

"Not generally, no. Count yourself lucky and don't expect it to happen again," he teased.

Susan smirked and continued with her meal. He still hadn't told her what it was, but it didn't matter. It was heavenly and melted in her mouth. She doubted she could get anything better in a five-star restaurant. After dinner, she started to get up to clear the table and House made no move to help. Well, dinner was enough. After a meal like that she could deal with the mess. House went into the living room and turned on the television. When she was finished, she went to sit down in the chair next to the end of the couch where House was sitting. Susan didn't recognize the show, "What show is this?" she asked.

"Burn Notice," he said.

"I don't think I've ever seen this one before," she said.

"Probably not since it's on cable," he said.

"I don't have cable."

"You do now."

"Greg, I can't affor…"

"Relax, it's paid to the end of the year," he said. "I was getting bored with just network stations."

"Oh," Susan settled back and watched the show. It seemed a bit predictable which is why she supposed he watched it. He didn't have to think a lot about it, and it had a lot of shooting, explosions and fast cars. The girl was a little out of the ordinary for this kind of show, she wasn't ugly by any means, but wasn't a beauty queen either.

"So, how things go with David last night?" House asked.

"Fine."

"Just fine?"

"What do you mean?" Susan asked suddenly wary.

"How was it?" he asked.

"How was what?

"You did the deed; how was it?"

"What makes you think we did anything?"

"Seriously?" House asked.

"Yes, seriously."

"Well, first you came home later than you do normally when you go out on a date. Secondly, your menses started 4 hours early. Third, you left your Bible open to some of the passages about fornication," he said pointing to the open Bible he'd moved to the coffee table. "Need I go on?"

"What does my menses have to do with it and how would you know what _time_ I'm supposed to start? The day I can understand, but the _time?_"

"Endorphins help bring it on when you're close to time; and little woman, you're as regular as an atomic clock," he said. "That's about to change though."

I'm forty-six years old; I expect it to start changing.

"You've already started the hot flashes," he said. Before she could ask he said, "Your face was still red when you came home this morning and your hair was drenched along your neck and forehead."

"Yes, but so far they only occur on the first day of my menses," Susan said suddenly aware that her entire life cycle was headed downhill.

"Don't worry, you still have a few years of fertility left, albeit not very high fertility levels" House said.

"I'm too old to have another baby anyway Greg and I'm not about to have one out of wedlock," she said.

"And that brings us back to the original question. How was it?"

Susan sat there for a moment not really wanting to answer, but knowing that Greg had a point to make, "It was nice," she paused, "and it didn't hurt."

"And it didn't matter that you weren't married," he said.

"Well, actually that matters a lot," she said. "I've screwed up again, literally." Susan stood up and started pacing.

"Susan, you're an adult. It's OK to have consensual sex when you are an adult."

She stopped pacing. "It may not be _illegal_, but it's _not_ OK."

"You love him," House said continuing in his roll of rationalization.

Susan started pacing again. She ran her hand through her hair and along the back of her neck, a sure sign that the tension was building, "Yes, I love him," she pointed over to the Bible sitting on the table, "but nowhere in that Book does it say "but it's OK if you love each other!" She sat back down on the edge of her chair and leaned forward with her hands behind her neck. She tried to calm herself.

House sat back and observed her for a minute then spoke, "You're not feeling guilty because you had sex; you're feeling guilty because you don't feel guilty."

"Yeah," Susan said moving her hands to the front of her face. She sat back up, curled her legs under her and leaned on the arm of the chair, "I'm such a hypocrite," she said quietly tears starting to form in her eyes.

House shook his head, _must be awful being a girl sometimes_, he thought. He didn't think he'd be able to deal with the on slot of emotions they go through with their monthly hormonal shifts. "Susan, you are the least hypocritical person I have ever known," he said. Susan just looked at him, "It's true. Everybody is a hypocrite about something, but you're solid. You know what you believe and you stand by it. I respect that even if I don't accept it. I've met a lot of people of faith in my practice and I've yet to meet one who didn't rationalize away what they believed to get the treatment they needed or tried to cover what they've done when others weren't looking. You don't do that. When you do make a mistake, which is rarely by the way, you don't try to rationalize anything and take full responsibility for your actions."

Susan smiled. Respect from Dr. Gregory House didn't come easily and she was honored to have it. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked.

"Do what your faith tells you, ask forgiveness," he answered.

"You don't believe that," she said.

"No, but you do and that's what's important here," House said. "What I believe or don't believe is irrelevant."

"How am I supposed to be forgiven for something I don't feel guilty about?"

"I don't have the answer for you, you have to work that out on your own; or you could go talk to your pastor if that would help. Whatever you decide to do, you need to deal with it or it'll eat at you and your relationship with David will fall victim," House said.

_David_, Susan thought. _I left him standing in the hallway_. She got up.

"Where are you going?" House asked.

"To call David," she said. "I probably freaked him out this morning."

House turned his focus back to the television having reached his quarterly quota of compassionate counseling in one evening. He heard Susan laughing through her bedroom door as she spoke with David on the phone. He smiled to himself; she was going to be OK.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Susan was sitting at her desk going over the reports her instrument had generated from the rat serum specimens she ran yesterday afternoon. She ran each value through the dilution calculations for the final concentrations of the various liver enzymes and the inflammation markers. She wrote her notes in the notebook and then as a final deliverable, she decided to create a spreadsheet so Dr. Riggin could easily see any changes in the concentration values. She pulled up Microsoft Excel on her computer and pulled out her notebook for the previous set of data. She created a table that listed each individual rat and the various tests she had run, and then she started entering data.

Susan heard her coming long before she walked into the lab, "Dr. Cuddy," she acknowledged when she walked in the door. Cuddy sat down in the chair in front of Susan's desk. "How can I help you?"

"I just came down to see how you are doing," she said.

Susan eyed her conspicuously, "Uh huh, why are you really here?"

"I need to talk to House," she said.

"He isn't here."

"I can see that. He's avoiding me," Cuddy said.

"He's not shirking his job; we don't have a patient currently. I know the boys and Thirteen are looking for one," Susan said.

"I know he isn't, well except for clinic duty, but that's normal," Cuddy said. "I mean he's not answering his phone, he's not in his office or any of his usual hiding places. I really need to talk to him."

"What about?" Susan asked.

"I need to see how he is doing," she said.

"I think you know how he is doing. He's been acting out since the day you broke up with him. You don't think loading up on vicodin, alcohol, and hookers, then getting married the next week, and playing 'hide the chicken' with Wilson provides any indication of how he is doing?" Susan said.

"That's why I need to talk to him, he needs to process so things can go back to the way they were before," Cuddy said.

"I think you know that things will never be the way they were before," Susan answered. "You can't start a relationship with somebody, then break up and expect everything to be OK. House was head over heels in love with you and you broke his heart. He doesn't deal well with emotional pain. He'll be fine eventually, just give him time. In the meantime, don't do anything to set him off, he's fragile."

"Fragile? House?" Cuddy said. "Right."

"OK, well if you don't realize that by now, then you don't know him at all. It's probably in his best interest and yours for that matter, just to stay away from him," Susan said. "Let him come to terms with this on his own." Susan turned back to her work, the conversation obviously over as far as she was concerned.

Cuddy got up and walked out, not satisfied with the way this conversation had gone at all. She had expected Susan to be sympathetic to her and to talk House into talking to her, not to tell her to stay away. Susan couldn't know House as well as she did, just because she was his sister. After all, Cuddy had known him way longer than Susan. She took out her cell phone and dialed his number, "House, please call me."


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

David showed up at Susan's house promptly at 6:00. Susan answered the door and smiled when she saw him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, "It's good to see you," he said when he broke off.

"Yeah, yeah, get a room," House said as he stepped around the couple into the apartment.

"Where's Phillip?" Susan asked.

"At baseball practice, and there's no school tomorrow so he's asked to spend the night with one of his friends on the team," David said.

"So no curfew," House observed from the couch where he had already parked himself in front of the television. "Convenient."

"They just had spring break, how can they have a day off already?" Susan asked ignoring House's implication.

"Some kind of work day for the teachers," David said. "I've given up trying to figure out the school schedule."

Susan shrugged, "Have a seat; I'm going to work on dinner." Susan had planned on taco salad tonight. It was cheap, easy to fix and tended to fill people up. She went into the kitchen and pulled out a couple of soft drinks and took them into the guys who had settled on a baseball game to watch. She went back into the kitchen and started dinner. She heard the men talking about the game and smiled to herself. She hoped that David and Greg could become friends. It would mean a lot to her if the two most important men in her life would get along well.

Their conversation quieted as the game got more interesting until the umpire made a call at home plate, "I'd like to see the replay on that one," David said. I don't think he was out.

"Yes he was," House said.

"Wager?" David asked.

"How much?" House asked.

"Ten bucks," David said.

"I don't bet for less than a $100."

"Fine then."

The play was shown again, he was obviously safe. David sighed and pulled out his wallet. He handed House five $20's which was promptly pocketed. Susan grinned, she knew what David was doing, but it's too bad it cost him $100. She appreciated his effort.

Susan started putting dinner on the table. She had a large bowl of seasoned hamburger, bowls of beans, rice, diced tomatoes, sliced olives, shredded lettuce, diced onions, homemade hot sauce, and a bag of shredded cheese. She added a tub of sour cream and guacamole to the table and then called the guys over.

"I've been doing a little research work over the last few days," Susan said to House as she was fixing her plate.

"Oh?"

Susan nodded, "We don't have a patient right now and I have the time. Have you heard of Dr. Riggin?"

"New guy, but I don't know much about him," House said. "What's he working on?"

"Muscle regeneration," Susan said. House's interest perked up. "Thought you might be interested," she said acknowledging his reaction. "It's just in early stages right now, but his results look promising." House took his plate over to the couch and sat down. "I have a copy of his paper in my bag if you want to read it."

House put his plate on the table and opened Susan's back pack. He quickly pulled it out and started reading. Susan realized she hadn't gotten herself a drink, so she went back into the kitchen. "I've been running some blood work on the rats in his study!" she called from the kitchen. "So far it looks okay; I'm not seeing any changes in the liver enzymes." She started to walk back to the front room, "but I did notice that the inflammation levels are starting to rise…where's Greg?" she said when she came back into the living room.

"He left," David said. "He was reading the paper and about the time you said you didn't see any changes in the liver enzyme levels he got up and walked out." Susan noticed his plate sitting untouched on the coffee table. "He took the paper with him."

"Oh, well I made copies. He can have that one," Susan said. She sat down next to David and started eating.

"Where do you suppose he went?" David asked.

"Best guess, to visit Dr. Riggin."

"But you said the research was preliminary."

"It is, but when Greg gets an idea in his head, there's no stopping him. He probably just wants to see for himself," Susan said. "I'll be taking the results to Dr. Riggin tomorrow because I want to make sure he sees those inflammation levels. I'm not sure what that means for his study, but it might put a stop to the whole thing."

"What does the increasing inflammation levels mean?" David asked.

"Well, it's indicative of swelling and that could be because of muscle regeneration, but it could also be the precursor of infection or even tumors. He definitely needs to be watching things pretty close." Susan explained. She was finished with her plate and got up to put it away. She picked up Greg's plate and took it to the kitchen. She set it on the cabinet for him in case he came back later. When she went back in the living room, David was refilling his plate. She sat down and he sat down beside her and started on his second helping.

"When did you get cable?" he asked.

"Apparently yesterday; Greg bought it. He said he got tired of watching network television," Susan said.

David finished his plate and got up to take it to the kitchen. Seeing that he wasn't going to fill his plate a third time, Susan got up to clear the table and start the dishes. David helped her clean up and then they went back to watch TV. David dropped his shoes and stretched out on the couch. Susan looked at him and started to sit in the chair, but David patted the couch in front of him. "Lay on the couch with me, there's room." Susan looked dubious, but she went over to do just that. He was right, they fit. David was spooned up behind her. He moved her hair out the way and kissed her neck. "See? Perfect fit." Susan curled her right arm under her head for a pillow. David had his head on the arm of the chair. Susan's left arm was stretched out over her body and David laid his arm right next to hers resting his hand on her hip. It wasn't long before he was caressing her hip and her arm. Suddenly he stopped, "Susan, are you on any birth control?"

"You ask me that now? It's a little late," she said laughing. "No, I'm not but don't worry you didn't get me pregnant."

"How do you know that, it hasn't been long enough?" he asked.

"It has been for me, didn't you see my note?"

"Sure, but what does that have to do with anything? You said you went home and we needed to talk."

"It said 'went home m'" Susan explained as if that would explain everything.

"OK"

"Oh, you didn't realize was 'm' was, sorry" Susan said. "'m' was for menses. I started my cycle and needed to get home."

"Oh. That explains a lot actually," David said.

"Don't even go there," said Susan. "The last thing you do is blame a woman's period for her bad mood, that'll just get you in trouble."

"Yes ma'am," he said, properly rebuked. Susan laughed.

"Do want more children?" David asked.

Susan sobered, "I don't know, yes and no I guess."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I'm forty-six years old and as Greg pointed out to me last night; menopause is right around the corner. At my age, the risks are compounded. I've always regretted not having more than one, but I don't know if I'm up to dealing with a newborn again. I'm tired and I don't know if I have the energy for the midnight feedings and such anymore. Plus, I have to work full time since I'm putting Laura through school in addition to my own living expenses, so that means a nanny or daycare and that's even more expense. At the same time, having Laura was the highlight of my life. I remember the joy of holding her as an infant and watching her grow through her childhood and developing into the young lady she is today and I miss that. So my feelings are conflicted," Susan said.

"You know you wouldn't have to do it all alone." David said. "I'd be there every step of the way."

Susan turned her head to look at him, "What are you saying?"

"I think you know what I'm saying," David said as he started to run his hand under her shirt and kiss her neck as she faced her head back forward.

"David, please stop," Susan said. David removed his hand and put it back where it was. "That's what started us down the road we went the other night."

"OK," David said. He put his hand over hers.

Susan was silent for a while, "David?"

"mmhmm"

"I do love you and I don't regret what we shared together. It was a beautiful moment between us, but it was wrong and you know it was," she said.

"I know," he said. "I lost control; no, that's not right; I purposefully lost control."

"So did I, but we can't do it again," Susan said, "as much as we want to, we can't. It's not right."

"Okay," David said. "I've gone nine years without before us, I can go a little longer." David caressed her hand with his paying particular attention to her left third finger, "but I want you to prepare yourself."

"Prepare myself?" Susa asked.

"On our wedding night, I'm going to love on you all night long," David said.

Susan laid there a moment while what David just said sank in and didn't say anything. Finally she grabbed his hand with her and brought it around her so that both hands rested under her chin, "Sounds good," she said.

David squeezed her tight in a hug and then kissed her neck and ear tenderly. Suddenly, he groaned and leaned his head on the back of the arm of the couch, "Susan?"

"mmmhmm"

"Don't make me wait a long time. OK?"

MDMDMDMDMD

House walked into Riggins' lab and found the professor putting instrument leads on the thigh of one of his rats before putting it in a running wheel. He went over to him and sat down on a lab chair, "Tell me about your research," House said.

"You're Dr. House," Riggin acknowledged.

"Very astute; tell me about your research," House said.

"Well, we're using a compound we call CS-804…" Riggin started.

"Yeah, I know all that part," House said holding up the research paper, "get to the good part."

Riggin spent the next 30 minutes explaining his research protocol and the results he'd gotten so far. House was impressed and wanted to know how long it would be before clinical trials would begin which of course Dr. Riggin didn't know. The research was a long way from reaching the clinical trial stage. The phone rang and while Dr. Riggin went to answer it, House pulled a couple of packages of the compound out of the desiccator box and put them into his pocket. He got up to leave and waved at Riggin as he left the lab, "I'll be back for updates," he said as he limped out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

_Friday morning, payday_ Susan thought to herself as she woke up. She went through her mental list of the bills she had to pay today, including Laura's tuition bill which was $1100 this month. As a lab tech Susan didn't receive a large salary and after all the deductions, she netted just under $1300 per pay period. So after she paid tuition, she would have less than $200 to live on for the next two weeks. Her rent was already paid for the month, so she didn't have to worry about that. She'd just gotten the electric bill, so it wasn't due for another two weeks. She could put that one off. She still had her cell phone bill, city services bill to pay. She had a credit card that she used periodically, but she kept the balance low so that she could pay it off each month. _Well, that one will have to be a little late_, she said to herself. Maybe she could swing the minimum on it this pay period and then pay the balance next pay period. Groceries were another problem. She was running low, but if she was careful she could buy just a few essentials and squeeze out the two weeks until next pay period. She did have some leftovers from the last week. She would utilize everything she had. She got up out of bed and got ready for work. While she was dressing, she realized she needed to fill her tank which was another $50 bucks. Oh well, she'd manage, she always did.

MDMDMDMDMD

David was waiting for her when she walked in the lab, "Good morning," he said. He looked down the hall and then shut the door behind her when she walked in. "I can't wake up with you next to me just yet, but that doesn't mean I can't kiss you good morning."

After they separated, he left to go to his office. Susan sat down at her computer and turned it on. The first thing she did was hop on the internet and checked her bank balance to make sure her check had been electronically deposited. She'd been burned in a past job when the CEO decided to cut everybody's pay that month and didn't tell anybody. She'd been expected her normal pay and had paid bills when she started getting insufficient fund notices from her bank. It took her several months to recover the damage to her credit report from that stunt. Since then she was always diligent to check her account balance on payday. Sure enough, it had been deposited.

She went to the Laura's university school account and she was unable to see the balance. She went to the payment history page and there were no payments listed since last month. Why would the balance be zero if there hadn't been any payments made? Susan picked up her phone and called the 800 number to the school and asked for the bursar's office.

"Bursar's office," the voice said when the phone was answered.

Susan explained who she was and that she was calling about her daughter's account. "I went online to make this month's payment and it says there is a balance of zero and I know that can't be right," Susan said.

The woman pulled up Laura's account, "Yes, I'm showing a balance of zero on her account."

"How is that possible?"

The woman opened the details of the account, "Oh, I see here that Laura qualified for another scholarship, let me transfer to you admissions and they can go through the details for you." Susan was put on hold while the call was being transferred.

"Ms. Watson?" the admissions officer said.

"Yes," Susan answered. "Can you tell me about this new scholarship that Laura qualified for?"

"Absolutely, we just recently received information on the scholarship trust fund last week. There were a number of restrictions that we had to work through, but when it was said and done your daughter was the only student that fit all of the criteria."

"Can I ask what the criteria were?"

"There were several and we filtered the students through the criteria one by one until we met all four. The first one was that the student had to be a science major and music minor. There were ten students that met the criteria. The next restriction was that of those students, the recipient had to be a freshman and that dropped the pool of students to 4. After that the restrictions became a lot more specific. Of those four, the student had to be the child of a single parent, and that dropped it to two. The final restriction was that the student had to have graduated from a high school in the Texas panhandle and that left only your daughter."

"Wow… that's a very specific scholarship," Susan stammered.

"We've never had one so restrictive before," the admissions officer admitted.

"Well, that's a wonderful blessing and it'll give me time to save up for next fall," Susan said.

"No ma'am, I don't think you understand. This scholarship will follow her until she graduates as long as she maintains at least a 3.0 GPA. It will cover the balance of her tuition that isn't covered by her other scholarships and will also cover her room and board as long as she remains on campus."

Susan was speechless.

"Ma'am, are you OK?"

"Um…yes….thank you for the information."

"You're welcome and have a nice day," the officer said and then hung up.

Susan put the phone down and leaned back in her chair, "You're as pale as a ghost," Wilson said from the doorway. "Are you OK?"

"Yes. I just got off the phone with the bursar's office at Laura's school."

"Is everything OK?" he asked.

"It's perfect," Susan said. Her mind was a million miles away.

"Good," he said and left.

Wilson walked down the hall to where House was waiting by the elevators, "How is she?"

"She looks a little pale, but she says everything is perfect. What did you do?" Wilson asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" House said. The elevator doors closed.

Susan was shaky when she got up out of the chair. There is no way that this wasn't Greg's doing, there was way too much specificity to the scholarship's criteria. She knew he would never acknowledge what he had done. She decided to go for a walk and ended up at the park as she usually did. She sat on the picnic table that had become a place of refuge for her when she needed to think. As she predicted, it wasn't long before she heard him come up behind her. He sat by her, neither saying anything as they looked out over the pond. "My old wedding ring is in there somewhere," she said.

"Probably been swallowed by a fish at this point," House said.

"Whoever catches that fish will have a nice surprise when they fillet it," she said. After a few moments she said, "It's getting replaced."

House nodded, "He's a good man Susan. He'll treat you well."

"I'm glad you like him."

"Didn't say that," House answered.

Susan looked at him and saw the amused look in his eye. She stood up and House stood with her, "I'm going to hug you." She said reaching around him, her head barely reaching the level of his armpits. House hesitated and then put his long arms around her, hugging her back. "Thank you…for everything," she whispered.

"Love you, Sis" he said so quietly she barely heard it.

The broke apart and walked back to the hospital side by side; Susan knew that she would never hear those words from him again, and she sure wouldn't ever manage another hug out of him, but once in a lifetime was all she needed. He was her brother and that was enough.


End file.
